Tag:

Control

How To Get Your Home Office Under Control

by admin April 5, 2024

written by admin

Image result for How,To,Get,Your,Home,Office,Under,Control

For many of us, the home office is the one room in our house that almost always seems to be in a state of disarray. After all, there are so many documents and papers that can easily pile up and get out of control.

When your home office is a disaster zone, it’s hard to do your best work. After all, our surroundings very much influence our moods and our overall state of mind. If you’re ready to kiss clutter and disorganization goodbye, then follow these tips on how to get your home office under control.

Start With A Deep Clean

When it comes to any cleaning project, it’s best to start with a big, deep clean. This means that you finally sit down and go through those documents, deciding what needs to be kept and what ought to be thrown away. You should empty out the contents of your desk as well, setting the things you want to keep aside and throwing the things you don’t need into the garbage can.

This is also a good time to actually clean your desk, dust your bookshelves, vacuum and clean any windows or reflective surfaces. Getting rid of clutter and cleaning your home office can be an all day project, but you’ll feel amazing when it’s finally finished.

Create An Organization System

Once your office is clean, you want to make sure that you never let it get to a state of total disarray again. The best way to do this is by creating an organization system. Feel free to be creative and have some fun with DIY projects. For example, by attaching metal clipboard clips to a bulletin board, you’ve just created a place to store documents in plain view. Little office hacks like this keep documents where you need them and prevent them from piling up on your desk.

The best way to keep a clean office is by gradually changing your habits. Commit to spending five minutes each evening sorting through any documents you’ve left out and putting them where they’re supposed to go. If you make cleaning a daily habit, your office will never get out of control again.

April 5, 2024 0 comment

Education

Local control over education ‘is key’

by Rajdeep April 5, 2024

written by Rajdeep

SCHOOL CHILDREN

A teaching union has warned against reducing the influence of councils over the country’s education system.

The Scottish government has been consulting on plans to introduce new regional education boards, which would operate across council areas.

Some within local government fear the proposals could reduce their traditional role.

The EIS union said ensuring education was democratically accountable at a local level “remained key”.

The Scottish government consultation also covers its desire to hand as much power as possible to individual schools and head teachers as part of efforts to close the attainment gap between the country’s wealthiest and most deprived pupils.

This will include £120m of government funds which will go straight to head teachers to allow them to help children from disadvantaged backgrounds – with schools with the most disadvantaged pupils getting the most money.

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It also wants to create new regional education boards which will be designed to support schools and help ones in different council areas work together more effectively.

However, details of what specific powers the boards will have and the regions they will cover have still to be decided.

The government has insisted that councils will still have legal responsibility for schools, and an important role to play in deciding how they are run.

But local government has been fiercely protective of its traditional role in the education system, with some wondering what practical powers they will retain after the new regional boards are introduced and greater powers are devolved to individual schools.

Speaking in October, Cosla president David O’Neill said the local government body would strongly resist any attempt to “centralise” the education system.

pupils and parents — Image captionThe plans would give parents and head teachers a greater say over how schools are run

In its response to the school governance consultation, which will close later on Friday, the EIS welcomed the commitment from the Scottish government that it will not remove education from local authority control.

And it praised ministers for ruling out a move towards the “discredited academy or free school models” that have been introduced elsewhere in the UK.

But the union’s general secretary, Larry Flanagan, echoed the view that any “significant restructuring” of the relationship between central and local government would be a “significant distraction from the real needs of Scottish education”.

‘Checks and balances’

He said: “Recent tensions between national and local government have led some to question whether the current model of delivery through local authorities is the best means of delivering education at a local level.

“It could be argued, however, that the checks and balances which exist between the different layers of government is an important aspect of a pluralist approach to democracy.

“The EIS does not believe that it would be useful at this point to look at any significant restructuring of the basic relationship between the two arms of government.

“In fact, we would go further and state that it would be a significant distraction from the real needs of Scottish education to engage in such a process.”

Mr Flanagan also said it was important that new initiatives, such as the £120m in additional funding for attainment projects, were managed through democratic structures to ensure fairness and transparency.

And he warned that schools, and the education system in general, would struggle to cope if wide-ranging changes were introduced too quickly.

He added: “It is essential that sufficient time is taken to make the correct decisions and to prepare for changes, rather than rushing to judgment and implementation simply to meet political rather than educational imperatives.”

Mr Flanagan also said the greatest barrier to educational equality was “the imposition of austerity driven budgets and the underfunding of the Scottish education system over the past period”.

He argued it was clear that in significant areas, such as pupil support, previous levels of provision have simply disappeared which “inevitably creates barriers for children’s learning”.

He concluded: “Genuine commitment to tackling inequality of outcome caused by socio-economic disadvantage requires solid support for schools, and the necessary resources, as the EIS has outlined in its submission to the Governance Review.”

Remove staff

Meanwhile, the Commission on School Reform – set up by the Reform Scotland and Centre for Scottish Public Policy think tanks – has published its own response to the Scottish government consultation.

It welcomed proposals to give schools, teachers and parents greater autonomy, but recommended that all decisions relating to “children’s learning and school life” should be taken in school unless strong arguments are advanced to the contrary.

This would include allowing head teachers to have the final say in staff appointments, and to be able to remove staff who are surplus to requirements or not performing satisfactorily.

But it said passing more power to schools would fundamentally alter the relationship between schools and local authorities, with a “significant impact” on local democracy.

The commission also said change should take place only when the ground has been well-prepared, and need not take place at the same pace or even in the same form throughout the country.

Speaking ahead of the consultation closing, a Scottish government spokesman said it had an “unwavering focus on improving Scotland’s education system to make it world-class”.

He added: “Our comprehensive programme of reform is based firmly on the independent findings of the 2015 OECD review of Scottish education which recommended, among other things, putting schools and communities at the heart of the education system.

“That is why we are reviewing school governance, and we will carefully consider all submissions to our consultation.”

[Source:- BBC]

April 5, 2024 0 comment

Internet

Newfound Router Flaw Lets Hackers Control Home Internet Connections: F-Secure

by Rajdeep April 4, 2024

written by Rajdeep

Newfound Router Flaw Lets Hackers Control Home Internet Connections: F-Secure

F-Secure researchers have uncovered a critical vulnerability in some models of Inteno home routers that, if exploited, is severe enough to allow an attacker complete control over the victim device and the Internet traffic traveling through it. The finding highlights the security challenges plaguing consumer routers.

The vulnerability allows an attacker to install their own firmware to the device, which would still work as before, but with back doors and other unwanted features. An attacker exploiting the flaw would be able to listen in on unencrypted traffic going through the router, not just device-to-internet, but device-to-device inside the home; as well as manipulate the victim’s browsing sessions by redirecting to malicious sites.

“By changing the firmware, the attacker can change any and all rules of the router,” said Janne Kauhanen, cyber security expert at F-Secure.

“Watching video content you’re storing on another computer? So is the attacker. Updating another device through the router? Hopefully it’s not vulnerable like this, or they’ll own that too. Of course, HTTPS traffic is encrypted, so the attacker won’t see that as easily. But they can still redirect all your traffic to malicious sites that enable them to drop malware on your machine,” he added.

The router type in question typically receives firmware updates from a server associated with the user’s internet service provider (ISP). But problematically, the vulnerable routers make no effort to confirm the update is valid and comes from the right place.

An attacker who has already gained access to the traffic between the home router and the ISP’s update server (for example, by accessing an apartment building’s network distribution trunk) can set up his own update server. He could then apply a malicious firmware update.

Researchers say this case is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to router security issues. And while the need for computer security is well understood, consumers are often unaware that a router is just as vulnerable.

“It’s ridiculous how insecure the devices we’re sold are,” says Kauhanen.

“We and other security companies are finding vulnerabilities in these devices all the time. The firmware used in routers and Internet of Things devices is neglected by manufacturers and their customers – by everyone except hackers, who use the vulnerabilities to hijack Internet traffic, steal information, and spread malware,” he added.

The flaw, while severe, is not immediately exploitable. An attacker would need to have already achieved a privileged network position between the router and the point of entry of the internet. Affected devices are Inteno EG500, FG101, DG201, and possibly others.

According to Harry Sintonen, the F-Secure senior security consultant who found the vulnerability, there is no way for a consumer to prevent their router getting exploited, short of replacing it with a new router without this particular vulnerability, or by installing the firmware that fixes the issue once it is available.

However, he points out that replacing the router is problematic advice. “As vulnerabilities in consumer DSL equipment are extremely common, it could well be that the device switch only leads to an even worse security situation,” he says.

By following the usual security best practices, however, consumers can mitigate damages should their router become a victim of attack.

Keep browsers and other software updated to prevent hackers exploiting security flaws in old software.

Use reliable internet security software such as F-Secure SAFE that stays constantly updated, to prevent a hacker from dropping malware.

Use a VPN such as F-Secure Freedome to encrypt internet traffic even if the router was hacked, encryption would prevent an attacker from spying.

[Source:- gadgets.ndtv]

April 4, 2024 0 comment

Tech Update

Apple Aims for More Control, Less Cost as It Accelerates in Chip Design

by Loknath Das October 28, 2017

written by Loknath Das

Apple Aims for More Control, Less Cost as It Accelerates in Chip Design

Apple Inc’s decision to stop licensing graphics chips from Imagination Technologies Group Plc is the clearest example yet of the iPhone maker’s determination to take greater control of the core technologies in its products – both to guard its hefty margins and to position it for future innovations, especially in so-called augmented reality.

The strategy, analysts say, has already reduced Apple’s dependence on critical outside suppliers like ARM Holdings Plc, now owned by SoftBank Group Corp.

Apple once relied heavily on ARM to design the main processor for the iPhone, but it now licenses only the basic ARM architecture and designs most of the chip itself.

More recently, when Apple bought the headphone company Beats Electronics, part of a $3 billion (roughly Rs. 19,546 crores) deal in 2014, it ripped out the existing, off-the-shelf communications chips and replaced them with its own custom-designed W1 Bluetooth chip.

“Apple clearly got rid of all the conventional suppliers and replaced about five chips with one,” said Jim Morrison, vice president of TechInsights, a firm that examines the chips inside electronics devices.

“Today we do much more in-house development of fundamental technologies than we used to,” Apple Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri said at a February conference. “Think of the work we do on processors or sensors. We can push the envelope on innovation. We have better control over timing, over cost and over quality.”

Most vendors of consumer electronics products rely on outside suppliers for chip design and development, primarily because it is extremely expensive. That has created huge opportunities for companies like ARM, Qualcomm Inc and Nvidia Corp, which have developed core technologies for processing, communications and graphics that are used by scores of vendors.

Now, though, Apple is so big that it can economically create its own designs, or license small pieces of others’ work and build on it. As with ARM and Qualcomm, the actual manufacturing of the chips is still contracted out to a semiconductor foundry, such as those run by Samsung Electronics and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd.

Move fast, save money
Bringing more of the design work in-house cuts complexity, people familiar with the processes say. Instead of managing one or more design teams and then a fabricator, Apple has only to manage the fabricator.

It may also help the company move faster – and save money – as it focuses on new technologies such as virtual and augmented reality. Apple CEO Tim Cook has indicated that Apple plans to integrate augmented reality into its products, which makes 3D sensors and graphics chips like Imagination’s especially important.

Even before formally cutting off Imagination, Apple had given hints that it was preparing to design its own graphics processors. Specifically, it introduced a piece of its own code called Metal for app developers. App developers use Metal to make their apps talk to the graphics chip on the iPhone.

By putting a piece of Apple-designed code between app developers and the phone’s chip, Apple has made it possible to swap out the chip without interrupting how the developers work. That could also make it easier to bridge the gap for developers between the graphics chips on Apple’s phones and its desktop computers, which currently require some separate coding.

“By promoting Metal instead of relying on other existing standards, Apple is not only able to control what graphics chip functionality is exposed at its own pace, but also blur the line for developers between coding for desktop and mobile GPUs,” said Pius Uzamere, the founder of a virtual realitystartup called Ether.

Taking control of the iPhone’s chips can also help Apple keep costs down, which is especially important as it gears up for a feature-laden new iPhone this fall. Timothy Arcuri of Cowen & Co said in a research note that he thinks the curved screens expected on the new phone could add as much as $50 in cost, for example.

Shebly Seyrafi, an analyst at FBN Securities, estimates that the average price of an iPhone increased only 1 percent to $695 (roughly Rs. 45,300) last quarter, while costs increased 8 percent to $420 (roughly Rs. 27,380), resulting in an iPhone gross margin of 39.6 percent. That is down from the 44 percent average gross margin for iPhones in 2015, according to Seyrafi’s estimates.

Apple spends only $75 million a year on licensing fees for Imagination’s chips. But licensing fees to chip designers, taken together, are a significant cost for the iPhone. Apple recently sued Qualcomm for $1 billion over licensing terms for its communications chips – which Apple would have trouble designing in-house because of patent issues.

[“Source-gadgets.ndtv”]

October 28, 2017 0 comment