Time travel a mith or reality

The concept of a time machine typically conjures up images of an implausible plot device used in a few too many science-fiction storylines. But according to Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity, which explains how gravity operates in the universe, real-life time travel isn't just a vague fantasy.

Traveling forward in time is an uncontroversial possibility, according to Einstein's theory. In fact, physicists have been able to send tiny particles called muons, which are similar to electrons, forward in time by manipulating the gravity around them. That's not to say the technology for sending humans 100 years into the future will be available anytime soon, though.

Time travel to the past, however, is even less understood. Still, astrophysicist Eric W. Davis, of the EarthTech International Institute for Advanced Studies at Austin, argues that it's possible. All you need, he says, is a wormhole, which is a theoretical passageway through space-time that is predicted by relativity.

"You can go into the future or into the past using traversable wormholes," Davis told LiveScience.

Where's my wormhole?

Wormholes have never been proven to exist, and if they are ever found, they are likely to be so tiny that a person couldn't fit inside, never mind a spaceship.

Even so, Davis' paper, published in July in the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics' journal, addresses time machines and the possibility that a wormhole could become, or be used as, a means for traveling backward in time.

Both general-relativity theory and quantum theory appear to offer several possibilities for traveling along what physicists call a "closed, timelike curve," or a path that cuts through time and space — essentially, a time machine.

In fact, Davis said, scientists' current understanding of the laws of physics "are infested with time machines whereby there are numerous space-time geometry solutions that exhibit time travel and/or have the properties of time machines."

A wormhole would allow a ship, for instance, to travel from one point to another faster than the speed of light — sort of. That's because the ship would arrive at its destination sooner than a beam of light would, by taking a shortcut through space-time via the wormhole. That way, the vehicle doesn't actually break the rule of the so-called universal speed limit — the speed of light — because the ship never actually travels at a speed faster than light.

Theoretically, a wormhole could be used to cut not just through space, but through time as well.

"Time machines are unavoidable in our physical dimensional space-time," David wrote in his paper. "Traversable wormholes imply time machines, and [the prediction of wormholes] spawned a number of follow-on research efforts on time machines."

However, Davis added, turning a wormhole into a time machine won't be easy. "It would take a Herculean effort to turn a wormhole into a time machine. It's going to be tough enough to pull off a wormhole," he told LiveScience.

That's because once a wormhole is created, one or both ends of it would need to be accelerated through time to the desired position, according to general relativity theory.

Challenges ahead

There are several theories for how the laws of physics might work to prevent time travel through wormholes.

"Not only do we assume [time travel into the past] will not be possible in our lifetime, but we assume that the laws of physics, when fully understood, will rule it out entirely," said Robert Owen, an astrophysicist at Oberlin College in Ohio who specializes in black holes and gravitation theory.

According to scientists' current understanding, keeping a wormhole stable enough to traverse requires large amounts of exotic matter, a substance that is still very poorly understood.

General relativity can't account for exotic matter — according to general relativity, exotic matter can't exist. But exotic matter does exist. That's where quantum theory comes in. Like general relativity, quantum theory is a system for explaining the universe, kind of like a lens through which scientists observe the universe. [Video – How to Time Travel]

However, exotic matter has only been observed in very small amounts — not nearly enough to hold open a wormhole. Physicists would have to find a way to generate and harness large amounts of exotic matter if they hope to achieve this quasi-faster-than-light travel and, by extension, time travel.

Furthermore, other physicists have used quantum mechanics to posit that trying to travel through a wormhole would create something called a quantum back reaction.

In a quantum back reaction, the act of turning a wormhole into a time machine would cause a massive buildup of energy, ultimately destroying the wormhole just before it could be used as a time machine.

However, the mathematical model used to calculate quantum back reaction only takes into account one dimension of space-time.

"I am confident that, since [general relativity] theory has not failed yet, that its predictions for time machines, warp drives and wormholes remain valid and testable, regardless of what quantum theory has to say about those subjects," Davis added.

This illustrates one of the key problems in theories of time travel: physicists have to ground their arguments in either general relativity or quantum theory, both of which are incomplete and unable to encompass the entirety of our complex, mysterious universe.

Before they can figure out time travel, physicists need to find a way to reconcile general relativity and quantum theory into a quantum theory of gravity. That theory will then serve as the basis for further study of time travel.

Therefore, Owen argues that it's impossible to be certain of whether time travel is possible yet. "The wormhole-based time-machine idea takes into account general relativity, but it leaves out quantum mechanics," Owen added. "But including quantum mechanics in the calculations seems to show us that the time machine couldn't actually work the way we hope."

Davis, however, believes scientists have discovered all they can about time machines from theory alone, and calls on physicists to focus first on faster-than-light travel.

"Until someone makes a wormhole or a warp drive, there's no use getting hyped up about a time machine," Davis told LiveScience.

Accomplishing this will require a universally accepted quantum gravity theory — an immense challenge — so don't go booking those time-travel plans just yet.

Your road to cheap internet

Apps are moving to the cloud. Streaming services like Netflix and Spotify are big. And just about every one of us is addicted to social networking.

There's just one thing standing in the way: your data plan.

With unlimited plans dwindling, most smartphone users are stuck with tiered options that sometimes make data usage more stressful than fun. (Anyone who's been hit with an exorbitant overage charge knows this feeling.)

But if you're on Android, you've got a little more wiggle room, thanks to plenty of data-restricting settings. With the proper configurations, you'll find yourself using data at a much slower rate -- so much so, perhaps, that you could even step down a tier.

Tame hungry apps

Whether you're actively using them or not, apps love to eat up data. They're checking for updates, running ads, and refreshing your user content in the background. The good intentions are there, but most times, the conveniences these practices bring don't outweigh the depleted data reserves. It's time to tame those apps.

Update apps on Wi-Fi only
Head to the Google Play store and tap Menu > Settings > Auto-update apps. Here, be sure that "Auto-update apps over Wi-Fi only" is selected. You also have the option to choose "Do not auto-update apps," but it's less preferable, since you'll have to remember to update apps manually.

Configure in-app data settings
To give you a fluid experience, many apps ping servers in the background to keep their content updated. For instance, Google+ backs up your photos and videos as they're captured, while Mint can be configured to refresh banking data.

These conveniences are great, but they come at a cost, so dive into the app settings and disable the data-sucking options you don't absolutely need.

Restrict background data
Even apps that don't allow you to fine-tune data settings could still be loading background data. In Ice Cream Sandwich and later versions of Android, one way to find out which ones are guilty is to go to Settings > Data Usage, and scroll down to reveal a list of apps with accompanying data usage stats.

Then, tap an app to view its usage data, and take a look at the two numbers next to the pie chart. "Foreground" refers to the data used when you're actively using the app, while "Background" reflects the data used when the app is running in the background.

If you notice an app is using too much background data, scroll down to the bottom and check "Restrict background data." Just note that this setting overrides any conflicting app behavior (like an app that would otherwise update your bank account info every few hours).

Take advantage of preloading and caching

As data constraints become a reality for most smartphone owners, developers are including options that make their apps less demanding. Don't let these options go unnoticed -- they'll save you heaps.

Preload streaming-app content
As we become increasingly frugal about cellular data usage, more apps offer caching (or preloading), letting you download content on Wi-Fi and view it at any later time. Spotify, for example, lets users download playlists. Similarly, YouTube preloads subscriptions and videos on your Watch Later list.

The majority of apps that offer preloading are the ones that need it most. So use it. Head into the settings menu of any app (especially streaming-media apps), to see if the option is available. Alternatively, you might find that an app allows you to lower streaming quality while on a cellular data connection.

Download files on Wi-Fi only
Unless you absolutely have to, refrain from downloading songs, movies, or large files while using a cellular data connection. It's common sense, but be sure to do any downloading while you're on Wi-Fi.

Cache maps before traveling
With its new offline feature, Google Maps now allows you to cache maps. It takes some time to download them, and does require a chunk of storage space, but once a map is downloaded, you'll be able to view and navigate it without using your data connection. Here's how.

Check sync settings

With automated syncing, Google makes sure your accounts are updated any time a change is made. Unfortunately for your data plan (and battery life) that means your phone is constantly pinging the server to find out if new content needs to be downloaded (or uploaded.) There are a couple ways to temper this.

Fine-tune sync settings
During the initial phone configuration, you probably opted into account syncing. By default, everything is set to sync, including things like photos, the Play Store, and other Google apps. You don't necessarily need all these items syncing -- especially data-heavy ones like photos.

To adjust sync options, head to Settings > Accounts > Google, and select an account. Here, uncheck the boxes next to the items that don't absolutely need to be synced. Repeat the same process for other accounts.

After that, you can manually sync accounts by visiting their respective apps.

Temporarily switch off sync
Going out for the night? Sitting at your desk? Prevent your phone from unnecessarily syncing data by disabling syncing, either from the notification bar, or by going to Settings > Data Usage > Menu > uncheck "Auto-sync data."

Minimize browser data usage

If Web browsing is the data-hogging culprit, it's no surprise. Some Web sites have yet to be optimized for mobile, while others eat into data with bulky advertisements.

The simple answer to these woes is data compression. With it, a Web page is first compressed in the cloud before being sent to your phone, significantly reducing the download size.

There are some drawbacks, however. First, even though your data is encrypted and anonymized, the browser must still process your activity while it compresses it. Not everyone is comfortable with that.

Secondly, sometimes compression means sacrificing quality, leaving you with slightly altered Web pages.

Even so, the option can be worthwhile for anyone on a tiered plan (or times when you're on a slow connection). Opera, a much-loved browser, is one such app that offers compression. Just head to the Settings menu to enable it. After some use, Opera will tell you just how much data you saved.

Alternatively, Chrome Beta includes a handy new data compression feature, but you'll have to enable it. To do so, head to Settings > Bandwidth Management > Reduce data usage. Going forward, you can revisit that settings window to see how much data you're saving.

Call in for help

If you've given it all you got and you're still breaching your data limits, it's time to call in for help.

Monitor data usage
One of the most useful Android features is the Data Usage tool. With it, you can view your monthly activity, see which apps demand the most megabytes, and configure usage warnings. Find out how to use it with our step-by-step guide.

Alternatively, Onavo Count offers a similar solution, but steps it up by including a widget, letting you keep an eye on real-time data usage at any moment. Read our guide to using Onavo Count.

Compress all data activity
As an absolute last resort, Onavo Extend takes its Count app a step further by actively compressing almost all incoming data. For instance, e-mails are simplified, Web pages are compressed server-side, and photos are optimized.

Keep this option in your app drawer, should you find yourself running low on data.

Official by-election results: Voters put PML-N on top again

ISLAMABAD: Further consolidating its grip on power, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) emerged as a clear winner in the country’s biggest ever by-elections held on August 22. 

The Election Commission of Pakistan has announced the result for most of the constituencies and PML-N is leading just like the general elections, with Pakistan Peoples Party and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf coming second and third respectively.

The election authorities withheld results for two constituencies of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa where women were reportedly disfranchised.

PML-N has secured five NA seats, 11 Punjab assembly seats and two Balochistan assembly seats. While PPP one three NA seats, two Punjab assembly seats and one in Sindh assembly.

PTI on the other hand won two seats in the Centre.

Meeting security challenges: Nawaz exempts IB from recruitment ban

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Friday exempted the Intelligence Bureau from a ban on recruiting, citing the sensitive nature of its job and the urgency of the current security situation.

In a visit to the Intelligence Bureau Headquarters on Friday, Nawaz was briefed on issues of internal and external security challenges, a release said.

The Prime Minister approved different proposals and recommendations which aim to build capacity of the organisation through better human resource induction and procurement of new equipment.

Nawaz was also briefed on counter terrorism initiatives and activities of the organisation.

Ministers of Interior, Finance and Information & Broadcasting also attended the briefing.

Iran-pakistan gas line progress

ISLAMABAD:
Setting aside fierce US opposition to the Iran-Pakistan (IP) gas pipeline project, in a strategic move, the pipeline may be stretched and connected to western China as Islamabad and Beijing have made it part of the planned economic corridor.

Earlier, India was actively involved in the pipeline project, but withdrew following a civil nuclear energy agreement with the US. Now, prospects have emerged that China will replace India and receive gas from the pipeline that will connect Iran, Pakistan and China.

According to sources, Pakistani and Chinese officials will discuss the laying of the gas pipeline from Gwadar to western China in a meeting to be held here on August 26. They will also take up a proposal about constructing an oil pipeline between the two countries.

The two sides will sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the economic corridor, which had already been approved by the cabinet.

The upcoming dialogue is a follow-up to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s visit to China in the first week of July. During the trip, Chinese companies expressed interest in laying the gas pipeline from the Gwadar Port to western China. Iran has also expressed interest in stretching the pipeline to China.

As part of the economic corridor, Gwadar Port will be connected through road and rail links to China which will help enhance trade between the two countries. Oil and gas pipelines will feature in the economic corridor, providing much-needed boost to economic activities in insurgency-hit Balochistan.

Pakistan government has asked Iran to bear the entire cost of the gas pipeline as it has found it difficult to arrange funds from some countries following pressure from the US.

The US is pressing Pakistan to shelve the IP pipeline and rather focus on the TAPI gas pipeline which will start from Turkmenistan and reach India through war-torn Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Iran has already committed $500 million for financing Pakistan’s side of the pipeline but Islamabad insists that Tehran should enhance the credit limit

Total cost of pipeline construction in Pakistan has been estimated at $1.5 billion. To cover part of the cost, the government will award a contract for engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) to Iranian firm Tadbir Energy.

“We are waiting for a response from the new Iranian government,” an official said, adding Tehran had already assured the previous government that it could enhance the credit limit if required.

Under the project, Pakistan will import 750 million cubic feet of gas per day (mmcfd) with an option to increase it to one billion cubic feet. Of the import, the Balochistan government seeks to consume 250 mmcfd at the Gwadar Port, which may encourage the central government to purchase more from Iran to meet needs of the least developed province.

IPhone would let you check the status of another iPhone user

Apple has envisioned a way to see whether a fellow iPhone user is free to talk before you even complete the call.

Published Thursday by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, a patent appropriately called "Methods to determine availability of user based on mobile phone status," describes just that process.

How many times do you call someone only to get dumped into voice mail? Maybe the person isn't available or is in a dead zone or has just turned on Airplane mode. Apple's proposed invention seeks to eliminate that uncertainty by alerting you to the person's status right off the bat.

To accomplish this feat, a person's iPhone would talk to Apple on the backend to report its status and call preferences. Such settings as location, signal strength, battery life, and mode (Normal, Airplane, or Vibration) would be sent to Apple's servers. A fellow iPhone user who attempts to call that person would see the status of the callee's phone on the screen and can then decide whether to complete the call.

In essence, your phone would borrow a key feature from instant messaging in which you can see if someone is online, offline, free, or busy.

As Apple describes it in typical patent language:

A command is received at an operating system of a first mobile phone for displaying contact information of a remote user having a mobile phone number of a second mobile phone. In response to the command, a request is transmitted to a remote server from the first mobile phone over a cellular network requesting an operating status of the second mobile phone. The operating status of the second mobile phone is received from the remote server over the cellular network. The operating status of the second mobile phone is displayed on a display of the first mobile phone as a part of contact information of the remote user associated with the second mobile phone, where the operating status includes current locality of the second mobile phone.
Such an invention does bring up privacy issues. What if you don't want Apple and other people to know your status? Assuming this feature ever even sees the light of day, Apple would presumably offer you a way to simply turn it off.

Carbon Farms Reverse Global Warming?

A recent study by German researchers presents the possibility of "carbon farming" as a less risky alternative to other carbon capture and storage technologies. It suggests that a significant percentage of atmospheric CO2 could potentially be removed by planting millions of acres of a hardy little shrub known as Jatropha curcas, or the Barbados nut, in dry, coastal areas.

But other experts raised doubts about the study's ambitious projections, questioning whether the Barbados nut would be able to grow well in sandy desert soils and absorb the quantity of carbon their models predict.

The researchers behind the study say Barbados nut plantations could help to mitigate the local effects of global warming in desert areas, causing a decrease in average temperature and an increase in precipitation. If a large enough portion of the Earth were blanketed with carbon farms, they say, these local effects could become global, capturing between 17 and 25 metric tons of CO2 per hectare each year over a 20-year period.

"All the other techniques we know about just prevent emission, nothing else," said lead author Klaus Becker of the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart, Germany. "Only plants are able to extract carbon dioxide from the air."

The study, published in the journal Earth System Dynamics, states that if 730 million hectares of land -- an area about three-quarters the size of the United States -- were devoted to this method of carbon farming, the current trend of rising atmospheric CO2 levels could be halted.

Carbon farms would not compete with food production if they were concentrated in dry coastal areas, the researchers said. In their scenario, oceanside desalination plants, partially powered by biomass harvested from the plantations themselves, provide a low-emissions irrigation method.

Could huge plantations change weather patterns?
The study states that the Barbados nut is uniquely suited to growing in regions inhospitable to other crops. The plant, which produces a nonedible seed that can be used to create biodiesel, is comfortable growing at temperatures exceeding 100 degrees Fahrenheit. It can also withstand high levels of contamination in the soil, making wastewater another potential source for irrigation.

Additionally, the plant grows rapidly and develops "pretty large roots below the soil, which is important for carbon binding," said co-author Volker Wulfmeyer, also of the University of Hohenheim. As part of their research, Wulfmeyer and Becker traveled to a Barbados nut plantation in Luxor, Egypt, to collect physical samples from the plants to estimate their carbon-storing potential.

There are about 1 billion hectares of desert land in coastal areas that could be used for Barbados nut plantations, the researchers estimate, located in countries such as Mexico, Namibia, Saudi Arabia and Oman. If the entirety of this land were used for carbon farming, the study found, atmospheric carbon dioxide could be reduced by 17.5 parts per million over two decades, or 16.6 percent of the CO2 increase since the start of the Industrial Revolution.

But less ambitious projects may also have an impact. Using models, the researchers projected that 100-square-kilometer plantations in Oman and Mexico's Sonoran Desert could cause temperatures to fall by more than 1 degree Celsius. The model also saw a precipitation increase of 11 millimeters per year in Oman and 30 millimeters per year in the Sonoran.

Paradoxically, this is because plantations are darker than the surrounding desert, explained Wulfmeyer, retaining more heat during the daytime. As a result, a low-pressure system develops over the carbon farm, causing changes in wind patterns that allow clouds to develop and precipitation to increase.

Automatically Tune Any Guitar In Seconds

Throughout their 23-year history, automatic guitar tuners have remained stubbornly complex systems that cost thousands of dollars and require tedious professional installation. Chris Adams, CEO of Tronical in Hamburg, Germany, has figured out a way around these problems. Using an off-the-shelf microprocessor, custom tuning algorithms, and six lightweight motors, Adams developed the first system that musicians can retrofit onto nearly any guitar’s headstock—without any wiring, drilling, or soldering. Once attached, his $299 TronicalTune can make an instrument pitch-perfect in about five seconds.

ATTACH
The TronicalTune consists of a three-inch computer and six motorized tuning pegs, which screw onto the headstock in place of the existing pegs. On traditional tuning pegs, strings thread through holes—a technique that can cause breakage when strings rub against the edges. TronicalTune uses a gentler method: The strings coil around rods on the pegs.

TUNE
After selecting from 12 presets (e.g., standard, open E), a user strums all six strings at once. A piezoelectric sensor picks up the vibrations, and a processor separates out the tones of each string. When it detects an off-pitch note, it signals the servomotor in the peg to turn, tightening or loosening the string to adjust the pitch. Once all six strings are tuned, the system turns itself off.

REFINE
Different guitar bodies and strings create slight variations in timbre, so Adams programmed the TronicalTune to grow accustomed to a guitar over the course of 10 to 20 tunings. The processor tracks the overtones and adjusts its tuning accordingly.

TronicalTune
Tuning Time: 3–10 seconds
Weight: 9 ounces
Price: $299

weird animal's...... It’s a Bear-Eat-Bear World Out There, Literally

So there you are, trundling through the forest. A powerful black bear, lord of the food web, you’re eating up berries, maybe catching some fish, when, all of a sudden, you’re being eaten by a massive grizzly.

That scene, or something like it, played out in Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada, earlier in August, when hikers came across a grizzly eating a black bear.

The U.S. Fisheries and Wildlife Service says that grizzly bears are opportunistic omnivores:

It will eat plants, as well as insects and other animals. Scavengers by nature, grizzlies spend most of their waking hours searching for food. Forbs, roots, tubers, grasses, berries and other vegetation, and insects comprise most of the bear’s diet. But grizzlies are very adaptable, finding and subsisting on a variety of foods if necessary.

In Yellowstone this means moths, snapped up by the tens of thousands. In Banff, apparently, it means other bears.

Steve Michel, who works at Banff, says “he suspects the kill was opportunistic,”

“Grizzly bears are opportunistic hunters,” he said. “They will take advantage of any food source that presents itself.”

Bears eating other bears isn’t entirely new—polar bears will eat each other, especially each others’ young. But for grizzlies it’s much more novel. Though how novel is up for debate. Michel told  that he “knows of four other instances when a grizzly has hunted, killed and eaten a black bear in Banff.”

“It may not be as rare as we think it is,” he said. “But it is rare that we actually are able to document it. We tend not to know about it all.”

Cause of China’s Infamous Black Carbon Smog

China’s cities are infamous for their thick haze of air pollution. Just this week, Hong Kong hit an extreme high of 187 on the air pollution index, prompting the government to issue a warning for children, sick people and the elderly to stay inside. Surprisingly, however, authorities struggled to pinpoint the main sources of the soot. Now, a new study reveals two guilty parties: traffic and home cooking. UPI reports:

A powerful carbon-14 identification method was used to trace fully four-fifths of the black carbon emitted in China to incomplete combustion of fossil fuel such as coal briquettes used in home cook stoves and automobile and truck exhaust, they reported.

“The current results suggest reduction measures in China should focus on domestic coal combustion (e.g., introduction of cleaner-burning cookers and heaters) and vehicle emissions (e.g., application of diesel particle filters),” the authors write in their paper. These sort of mitigation efforts, they say, could, over time, improve air quality and, by extension, the health of China’s residents. Mitigation would also reduce China’s contribution to climate change.

China says it’s on it. The country just announced a program aimed to cut air pollution by cutting back on coal consumption and increasing its capacity for clean energy, Business Insider reports. These efforts, the government estimate, will run around $277 billion USD, or 1.7 trillion yuan.

Don't buy a new PC or Mac before you read this

Editors' note: article was originally published June 27, 2013, and was updated August 22, 2013, to reflect that many more systems are now available with Intel's latest processors, with still more to come later this year.

Before swiping your credit card on a new ultrabook, all-in-one, or convertible, you're going to want to dive a little deeper into the spec sheets. That's because the latest Intel CPU upgrade, introduced in June and code named Haswell (but officially known as "fourth-generation Core i series") offers significant battery life improvements in the laptops we've tested so far. So, unlike the more ho-hum Intel updates we've seen in years past, there's a real-world payoff in seeking out a Haswell-equipped laptop.

But, many popular laptops, such as the Lenovo Yoga 13 and Apple MacBook Pro with Retina Display, still use third-generation Intel CPUs, with no official upgrade plans yet announced. If better battery life isn't a big concern, for example if you're going for a desktop PC, or if you have a "desktop replacement" laptop that you don't tend to disconnect from the power cord, this could work in your favor, and you could score a nice discount as more pre-Haswell PCs make their way to the discount bin.

How do you tell which is which? That's the tricky part.

The current laptop landscape

As we move into the Haswell era, the market is in flux. Many "new" laptops and hybrids, such as the Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 11S or the Toshiba Kirabook, all still ship with processors from Intel's third-generation Core i series, the same parts that have been found in most PCs since spring 2012. On the bright side, some popular systems, including the Acer Aspire S7, have added Haswell parts.

Normally this wouldn't be a big deal, because any current laptop will have more than enough processing power for everyday tasks, such as Web surfing, HD video playback, social media networking, and working on basic office documents. For that reason, in years past, having the latest and greatest processors wasn't especially high on my priorities list. Frankly, the average consumer wouldn't feel much of a difference in surfing the Web on a laptop with a budget-minded Intel Core i3 versus one with a high-end Core i7.

But with a growing number of Haswell PCs (and Macs) tested, the battery life results from them so far has been very impressive. The Haswell-equipped PCs also offer Intel's better integrated graphics, either the HD 5000, HD 4600, or HD 4400, rather than the now-outdated Intel HD 4000 graphics found in third-gen Core i-series systems.

Case in point: the 2012 version of Apple's 13-inch MacBook Air ran for 7 hours and 27 minutes in our video playback battery drain test. The 2013 version of the 13-inch Air, with a Haswell CPU, blows that out of the water, with an astonishing 14 hours and 25 minutes on the same test. Sony's Haswell-powered Vaio Pro 13 ran for nearly 9 hours, and even the gaming-oriented Razer Blade, ran for more than 7 hours.

How to choose

The natural question this raises is: should you hold off on buying a particular PC if it still has a third-generation Intel Core i-series processor and wait for the Haswell version? Some popular systems, including the Lenovo Yoga line, the Microsoft Surface Pro, and Apple's MacBook Pro have not publicly announced street date for updated versions with the newest Intel CPUs.

This new Acer Aspire S7 looks the same as the previous model, but its new Intel CPU ran for about 1 hour longer.
I suggest approaching with caution, although I'm not ruling out buying a non-Haswell system altogether. Below are some guidelines that represent my current thinking on the subject; feel free to add your own suggestions and ideas in the comments section below.

Desktops and larger laptops: Buy now
Considering the modest gains in actual application performance (including the HD 5000 graphics), if you're holding off for performance reasons, don't. For a traditional desktop or all-in-one with no battery, the last-gen processor isn't a big deal. The same goes, to a lesser extent, for 15-inch and larger laptops, which by their nature spend most of their time tethered to a desk and power outlet. On the bright side, some gaming laptops, such as the Alienware 14 and Toshiba Qosmio X75, have already moved to Haswell.

Ultrabook-style systems: Seek out a Haswell version
Some of the best ultrathin laptops, namely the Apple MacBook Air, Sony's new Vaio Pro (both of which are available in 11- and 13-inch models), and Acer's Aspire S7 now have the new Intel CPUs. Battery life on these is amazing, and I'd be hard-pressed to buy a premium ultrabook (or faux-trabook) with shorter non-Haswell battery life. It would certainly be painful to spend more than $1,600 on a Toshiba Kirabook or Lenovo Helix and not get the latest processors (and the resulting boost in battery life).

Budget shoppers: Wait if you can, or seek out bargains if you can't
Some of our favorite reasonably priced laptops, such as the Dell Inspiron 14z and Sony's Vaio Fit 14, are not available with fourth-gen Intel Core i-series CPUs yet, nor is there an estimated date for them. The new Core i3 CPUs for budget and midprice systems are the last item on Intel's priority list (the highest-end quad-core Core i7 chips came out first, followed by Core i5 versions), and more-modest battery life expectations are built into buying a sub-$800 laptop. That said, we're already seeing some good deals on pre-Haswell PCs, as retailers and manufacturers begin blowing out inventory to make room for those new Haswell models. Keep an eye on those Sunday newspaper circulars and Internet deals.

Dell's XPS 12 hybrid is now available with a new Haswell-generation CPU.
Tablet/hybrids: Wait for Haswell
Tablets are designed for all-day on-the-go use, but to date, many Windows models -- from the Lenovo Yoga to the Microsoft Surface Pro -- haven't yet hit that battery life sweet spot. Well, it's time to stop compromising. Every Windows 8 device that's either a slate-style tablet or laptop/tablet hybrid could benefit from the extended battery life offered by Haswell. (That also goes for Intel's next-gen Atom CPU, dubbed Bay Trail -- also due soon.) The 14-hour battery life on the new MacBook Air proves it: it's possible to get much better battery life on tablets than we're getting now, and we should demand it. In other words, if you like the look and feel of a current Windows tablet, hold out for the Haswell version. Fortunately, some hybrids, such as the Dell XPS 12, are now shipping with Haswell CPUs.

Bonus advice: Don't worry about Windows 8.1 or Mac OS X 10.9 Mavericks
Savvy tech shoppers know that Microsoft and Apple are both updating their operating systems before the end of the year, to Windows 8.1 (due October 17) and Mac OS X 10.9 Mavericks. The good news is that the Microsoft upgrade will be free (for existing Windows 8 users), and the Mac upgrade is likely to be very cheap (Apple hasn't announced dates or pricing, but the last few Mac versions have been only $20). Any computer running the current OSes should be easily upgradable to the forthcoming versions; there's no reason to wait for them to be released before buying.

Questions to Ask Before You Hire More Employees......

1. What kind of business do you want?

Not everyone wants a big business. Many would rather concentrate on a smaller one and be closely involved on many levels, because there are rewards to business other than just money. As you grow a business, you may have to become disengaged with parts that give you pleasure, because you’ll spend more time on the overall operation and have to delegate more aspects.

Also, you’ll have to channel more cash into expansion, which could mean having to lower your own compensation and standard of living for some time. Some find that a proper tradeoff, while others are unhappy with the transition or ultimate result. Consider what you want from the business and whether you have the necessary patience to personally move backwards for a while to hit the bigger time.

2. Can you throttle back growth if needed?

With some businesses, you have more control over growth. For example, if you offer some sort of personal service, you can restrict your customer base and pass along additional business to colleagues.

In other types of business, you may have less control. Selling a product online puts you more at the mercy of the business that comes in. If your offer becomes hot for some reason, you may become inundated with orders and then be obligated to fulfill them. Depending on the type of business and demand, you might find that you have to expand and hire more people.

3. What is your growth like?

Many entrepreneurs get excited when they see a rush of business. They assume that the proper response is to expand to meet demand. But growth may be momentary rather than continued. Have a product get unexpected publicity and you might see a sudden uncomfortable increase in orders. Once the exposure has run its course, usually in a relatively short period of time, demand could drop back to previous levels.

Before deciding on growing your staff, be fairly sure that the increased workload will last long enough to justify them. If not, consider overtime and temporary help to bridge the temporary gap.

4. Are you suffering from growth?

Entrepreneurs typically have to have healthy egos to believe that they can succeed when others says they will fail. The character feature can become a flaw if it starts to run unchecked. One subtle way it can express itself negatively is in desiring the trappings of a larger business before they are truly necessary. If you’ve grown too quickly, you may notice a rise in the number of customer complaints about service or employee concerns that they cannot keep up with their jobs. The action you choose may be more efficient business processes. But if you still can’t adequately handle problems, it may be a sign that you do need more help.

5. Is there outside help available?

Needing more help is fine, but do you need to hire in-house? You might have business processes that could be outsourced to other companies for a reasonable increase in variable costs you can handle through pricing rather than the fixed business costs of permanent employees. That way, your business can more effectively respond to changes in demand. Some areas to consider might be call centers, fulfillment, or accounting. Moving some tasks outside the company frees internal resources to do the types of work that are core to the business.

6. Do you really need help?

It may be that you can handle some tasks internally more easily than you think. An example: Do you really need a full-time bookkeeper, or are there still a few hours a month where you could personally enter numbers into an accounting system and have an accountant review the work? Are there other tasks you could take on, freeing up current staff to handle orders and customer concerns?

Be most wary of hiring additional executives until the business is really cooking. Even a vice president of sales may be ineffective if the company does not have sufficient revenue.

7. Are you ready for the short-term profit impact?

Growing a business typically has a strong hit on profitability. You ramp up for where you think the business will go within the next few months. That means temporary excess capacity that adds more fixed costs, including benefits, worker’s comp, and additional payroll taxes. These additional costs get distributed over all your sales and cut gross margins until growth catches up and restores a more normal balance.

As you can’t both grow the business and generally cut expenditures at the same time, the hit will be to profitability and possibly your personal income. Do you have the capital to support the growth? Are you prepared, if necessary, to reduce your personal expenses and plans to help underwrite the growth? If not, you will find yourself at war with what you want to do for the business, ultimately hurting everything.

8. Are you set up to handle more employees?

Finally, your startup needs the processes, procedures, and organization to handle a sudden influx of employees. They will all need orientation, training, and management. There might be additional federal or state legal requirements should the staff size expand to certain numbers. You may need additional office space, equipment, and software licenses.

Hiring employees is a big step for a new business. Do your homework, consider the implications, and be ready so your company can continue to be successful.

2014 May Turn Out to Be the Year of the Diesel Engine

Some auto insiders are saying that 2014 is shaping up as the Year of the Diesel, with the number of diesel-fueled cars sold in the U.S. set to double over the next 12 months or so, and even more growth expected down the road.

“This year, the number of diesels will be doubled,” said Andreas Sambal, the North American director of marketing for German supplier Bosch’s diesel systems division, according to The Detroit Bureau. “By the end of the 2014 model-year there will be 40 diesels on the market and this will give consumers a lot more choice.”

By 2017, the number of diesel models sold in North America should be up to around 60, Bosch anticipates.

What’s fueling the expansion of diesel engines? Today’s clean diesels are not the loud, smelly, black-smoke-belching vehicles of old. What’s more, they offer drivers a rare, highly desirable combination of power and fuel efficiency, while costing only a bit more than a regular gas-powered vehicle. Edmunds.com senior analyst Bill Visnic explained to USA Today that diesel is “a magnificent option” for SUVs and trucks because of outstanding pulling power, while with smaller commuter cars, “Diesel affords the opportunity to offer hybrid-like fuel economy ratings without the investment in hybrid technology.”

The New York Times reported that diesel sales rose 26% in the U.S. last year, thanks to the fact that they can get 15% to 30% better mileage than their gas-powered counterparts and buyers don’t have to pay a gigantic premium on the purchase. “Diesel is far less expensive than plug-ins and E.V.’s, with better range and performance,” said Volkswagen of America’s Rainer Michel. “This technology is available today.”

While GM, Nissan, Mercedes, and other automakers are expanding their diesel options, Volkswagen appears to have a big headstart on the scene. In a recent press release wishing the diesel engine a happy 100th birthday, noted that more than 75% of diesel-powered passenger cars and SUVs sold in the U.S. are VWs. Thus far in 2013, VW has sold 56,480 TDI Clean Diesel cars in the U.S., representing nearly 25% of its total sales.

Overall, diesels account for less than 3% of all cars sold in the U.S. That ratio could shift up to 8% or even as high as 10% by 2018, according to various projections.

The increase in models available will certainly help the expected increase in total diesel sales. Audi, for instance, is making diesel an option in five of its 2014 models, up from just one in the past, according to USA Today. Nissan just announced that its 2015 Titan pickup truck will be powered by a V8-turbo diesel engine, which should bring competition to Dodge’s recently introduced 2014 Ram 1500 EcoDiesel pickup.

There are also several compelling mid-price diesel sedans on the market right now. The Chevy Cruze Clean Turbo Diesel, for instance, was described as “a quiet and comfortable sedan that excels on the highway” by Detroit Free Press auto critic, who drove the car more than 600 miles on a single tank of gas and averaged as high as 45.5 mpg. The Volkswagen Passat TDI, meanwhile, is a smart purchase according to Edmunds.com’s math, which estimates that a driver would save $1,621 over the course of five years by going with the diesel Passat over the regular model, when initial price, projected fuel costs, and other expenses are tallied up. As a bonus, you’ll be able to skip many gas station stops over that five-year span, as the diesel-fueled Passat can go nearly 800 miles with a full tank.

Research may lead to inexpensive, flexible solar cells

Work by a team of chemical engineers at Penn State and Rice University may lead to a new class of inexpensive organic solar cells.

"Imagine if you could make solar cells as easily as you can print posters or newspapers—you could make sheets of this," said Enrique Gomez, assistant professor of chemical engineering. "It represents a fundamental shift in the way in which we make solar cells."

Most solar cells today are inorganic and made of crystalline silicon. The problem with these, Gomez explained, is that inorganic solar cells tend to be expensive, rigid and relatively inefficient when it comes to converting sunlight into electricity.

But organic solar cells offer an intriguing alternative that's flexible and potentially less expensive.

Not many organic solar cells currently exist. He said, "There are a bunch of prototypes floating around. You see them in places like in solar-powered laptop bags and on the top of some bus depots."

The problem is that the bulk of organic solar cells employ fullerene acceptors—a carbon-based molecule that's extremely difficult to scale up for mass production.

Gomez's approach skips the fullerene acceptor altogether and seeks to combine molecules in a solution.

The idea of utilizing molecular self-assembly for solar cells isn't new, but Gomez said, "It's not been well executed."

He continued, "It's like trying to mix oil and water." The issue is that weak intermolecular interactions and disorder at junctions of different organic materials limited the performance and stability of previous organic solar cells.

But by controlling the nanostructure and morphology, the team essentially redesigned the molecules to link together in a better way.

The engineers were able to control the donor-acceptor heterojunctions through microphase-separated conjugated block copolymers.

"We have not only demonstrated control of the microstructure, but also control of the interface responsible for the initial steps in charge photogeneration in a way never achieved before," Gomez said.

The result, which was detailed in a recent issue of the American Chemical Society's Nano Letters journal, is an organic solar cell made of block copolymers that's three percent efficient.

The team included Penn State chemical engineering graduate student Changhe Guo; undergraduate student Matt Witman; Rafael Verduzco, the Louis Owen Assistant Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Rice University; Joseph Strzalka, research scientist at Argonne National Laboratory; and research scientists Cheng Wang and Alexander Hexemer of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Though the team's prototype is not as efficient as some solar cells that are commercially available, Gomez explained the work shows flexible organic solar cells are indeed possible.

"Our cells right now don't capture a lot of light. We need to look back and redesign the molecule. We think we can do better than 3 percent," he said.

7 Things Really Persuasive People Do..........

1. They Are Purposeful

Truly persuasive people understand their power and use it sparingly and knowingly.  They understand that most conversations do not require trying to get someone to do or accept something. Aggressive pushers are a turn-off and will put most people on the defensive. It’s the person who rarely asks or argues that ultimately gets consideration when they strongly advocate an idea, especially when they do it with power and persistence.  Simply put, they pick their battles. Want to persuade more? Argue and advocate less often.

2. They Listen … and Listen … Then Listen Some More

People who know how to persuade also know that just pushing your own argument will get you nowhere. They certainly are able to articulate their position in a convincing way, but that is only half the equation. They are actively listening when in persuasion mode. First, they are listening to assess how receptive you are to their point of view. Second, they are listening for your specific objections, which they know they’ll have to resolve. Last, they are listening for moments of agreement so they can capitalize on consensus. Amazingly persuasive people are constantly listening to you and not themselves.  They already know what they are saying. You can’t persuade effectively if you don’t know the other side of the argument.

3. They Create a Connection

It’s easy to dismiss people who trying to persuade you if you have no emotional stake in them or their argument. Really persuasive people know this, so they will be likeable and look for common ground to help establish emotional bonds and shared objectives. They show empathy for your position and make it known that they are on your side. They manage their impatience and wait for you to give them permission to advocate their approach. You’ll persuade people much more easily if they are open and aligned with your desires.

4. They Acknowledge Credibility

Really persuasive people understand that there is no sense wasting time arguing facts; most of the world does not function in black and white. They value strong opinions and will make sure that you are entitled to yours. In fact, they will make sure they give you full credit for every argument of yours that has some validity. This makes it harder for you to fully dismisstheir point of view. When you are persuading people, reinforce their credibility on facts and opinions rather than dismissing them outright. Then they’ll be more likely pay you equal respect in the exchange and be more open to the merits of your opposing view.

5. They Offer Satisfaction

Smart persuaders know that they don’t have to win every little battle to win the war. They are more than willing to sacrifice when it helps the overall cause. They are ready to find the easiest path to yes. Often that is simply to give you what you want whenever possible. In my old lending days, we would often deal with busy underwriters who asked for items we knew they already had. Instead of arguing the point, we would just resend the documents and save our energy for issues that were not so easily resolved. Give ground where you can and hold your ground only where it matters. Choose being successful over being right.

6. They Know When to Shut Up

Successful persuaders get that you don’t win the battle by constantly berating people with an unending verbal barrage. Wearing people down is not an effective strategy. They carefully support their arguments and check in with questions that will help to close the conversation. Then they step back. The great sales trainer Tom Hopkins still today teaches these decades-old techniques of his mentor J. Douglas Edwards. His most important lesson is “Whenever you ask a closing question, shut up. The first person who speaks, loses.”

7. They Know When to Back Away

Urgency and immediacy are often the enemies of real persuasion. It’s possible to close a less significant sale through urgency, but deep ideas require time and thought to take root. Great persuaders bring you along in your own time. And they give you the space and time to carefully consider their position. They know that nothing is more powerful than your persuading yourself on their behalf. That almost never occurs in the presence of the persuader. The next time you want to persuade someone of something truly important, follow the tips above, make your case, and walk away. If they don’t come around, you were probably wasting your effort in the first place.

What Are the Weirdest Driving Laws in Your State?

Driving laws aren't always easy to keep up with. We all know to stop at red lights, but how do you handle turning when a bike lane is present? Transportation laws can vary by state and you may know better than we do.

In general, driving laws are fairly standard for most situations. Drive on the right side of the road, don't exceed the speed limit, red means stop, green means go. However, there are some laws that are either only present in a certain area, or have atypical applications. For example:

In California, touching your maps app while driving is legally as bad as texting. You can, however, set up your route before you leave and place your phone in a holster within a 5"x5" area in the lower-left or 7"x7" area in the lower right of your windshield. Anywhere else is also against the law.
In Alaska, Florida, Hawaii, Kansas, Louisiana, and Massachusetts, it is illegal for any vehicle in motion to use its hazard lights. Other states allow hazard lights in emergency situations or to indicate a traffic hazard (like heavy rain), while others—such as Georgia, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and others—allow hazard light usage at any time.
In California (again), bike lanes are treated as full lanes for the purposes of turning right. That is, if you are in the right-most car lane, but there's a bike lane next to you, it is illegal to turn right from the car lane by crossing over the bike lane. You must first merge into the bike lane before the intersection, then make your turn.
For most driving situations, we all know the basics. However, when you're traveling, chances are you'll pass through a state that has some weird laws you had no idea about. So, what are the things that a visitor driving in your state should know about?

Google's Newest Play Store Confirms Manual Updates When Updating All

Google's Play Store offers a lot of options for keeping your apps updated. However, if you've updated to the newest version, you may have noticed a new alert like the one above under certain circumstances.P

Here's how the new reminders work: if you allow the Play Store to automatically update apps in the background, but have disabled automatic updates for specific apps, you'll be prompted to confirm each one of those whenever you press the "Update All" button on your My Apps page. If you have the global setting turned off for automatic updates altogether, however, you won't ever see this prompt. It's a little confusing at first, but basically if you told Google that you always want to manually update a certain app, it will always give you a prompt to confirm for that app.

Android Open Source Project now has latest 4.3.1 fixes for most Nexus hardware

The latest Android 4.3 updates brought a slate of unfortunate software bugs to the party and to Google's own Nexus devices, ironically enough. Thankfully, the Mountain View crew is hard at work patching things up, as evidenced by the Nexus 7 update earlier today that resolved its multi-touch and GPS issues. Now those fixes are up on AOSP as well, not only with the aforementioned JSS15Q build for the 7-inch tablet, but also the JWR66Y for the rest of the recent Nexus clan. The reasoning behind having two fixes instead of one was the addition of an extra bit of code unique to the Nexus 7; they'll be incorporated into one patch as soon as the devs work out the kinks. Aside from patching those aforementioned bugs, the update resolved a clipboard crash issue, tweaked App Opps permissions and fixed a few extra bits of errata. If you're not afraid of a bit of tinkering, head on over to the source to update your Nexus hardware now, or just wait for Google to release Android 4.3.1.

Chrome 30 beta whats new?.. what to except..

The Chrome 30 beta has one of the longer lists of new features we've seen from the browser in quite some time. One of the most immediately visible will be a new option to search by image when you right-click or long-press on one. It'll use your default search provider to perform the task, but chances are you'll be using Google's own top-notch photo-mining service. The Android edition is also revamping its various gestures to make them easier to perform and lessen the chance of accidentally triggering them. Now all the gestures are performed in the top tool bar: swipe left or right to switch tabs, down from the middle to initiate the tab selector or down from the upper right-hand corner to open the menu.

As if that wasn't enough, the back-end tech is getting a slew of new features on both the desktop and mobile sides. The Android version of the Chrome beta now supports WebGL, the MediaSource API and DeviceMotion, for making use of the accelerometer in the browser. MediaSource is particularly useful for generating dynamic streams of content that can adjust bit-rates on the fly, based on the quality of the connection. On the desktop, a load of new APIs have been added to the Chrome App framework, including support for in-app payments and downloads. WebRTC and speech recognition have also received improvements across all platforms. You can find out more details at the source and download the new Chrome beta and try them yourself........

Ubisoft isn't afraid of mobile gaming, sees a bright future in Wii U and Oculus Rift

Ubisoft's Alain Corre isn't worried about the rise in mobile gaming. On the contrary, Corre, who heads up the company's overseas operations, seems to welcome the uptick in iOS and Android gamers and not resignedly, either. "What we like in mobile gaming is that it's bringing a lot of new people to games," he told us. "Which for us is very good because it's a teaching thing and... at one point, some of them will feel a bit limited with the scope of mobile games and they'll want to experience something different in gaming." Whether it's the limitations of the casual genre or outright boredom, Corre's confident a chunk of these new gaming converts will seek out home console or PC experiences. Something more along the lines of a Watch Dogs or Assassin's Creed, perhaps. And with the advent of the next-gen, the timing for this gaming initiation couldn't be better for Ubisoft.

And then there was Wii U. Ubisoft famously announced Rayman Legends as a console exclusive for Nintendo's platform at launch and then publicly reversed course when systems sales flagged. The title's now set for an imminent multiplatform release, but don't expect Corre to speak ill of Nintendo's two-screened gambit. "We consider the Wii U a great machine [and] the GamePad is second to none... We just need Nintendo to put more energy [in]. A lot of consumers will want this machine if the energy is put in." It's a bullish outlook especially considering ZombieU, a launch exclusive that took full advantage of the GamePad, failed to fly off shelves. Yet, Corre believes the market is still there for the Wii U and that games like Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros could help Nintendo see a change of fortune. At which point, Ubisoft will be ready to allocate development resources back to the console. For now, though, there's Just Dance and Rayman Legends on the horizon, and maybe even some Rayman DLC. "That's something we are thinking of for Rayman Legends. There may be some extra things we can do for this game."

Nintendo's second screen isn't the only one Ubisoft's focused on. Both Microsoft and Sony have solutions in place for their respective next-gen consoles and Corre is adamant that Ubisoft will support those experiences. He explained that this strategy would be an organic, integral part of all game development, saying that, "For us, we consider that, moving forward, the big experiences will need to have a second screen experience because it's part of the gameplay. So, all this extra gameplay will become... natural for the next big games." But don't take that as a catch-all pledge. Corre was cagey when we asked specifically about blanket PS Vita Remote Play support -- despite Sony's Shuhei Yoshida's insistence that Remote Play support exists on a system level for the vast majority of PS4 games -- a function only recently demoed for Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag. Corre admitted that it would be determined on a case-by-case basis.

Chrome OS stable turns 29 with 'immersive' mode, improved launcher search

The stable channel of Chrome OS has hit version 29, and with that tick comes a few new features we saw in beta just a month ago. Most notable is an "immersive" mode that hides the toolbar and shelf for a truly full-screen browsing experience. And, just like on the standalone browser, you need only hover at the top of the screen to bring those UI elements out of hiding. Pinning apps to the launcher has also been simplified with drag-and-drop -- something so intuitive and obvious that we're surprised it's taken this long to implement. The app launcher's search feature has also received a pretty impressive update, with the ability to pull in results from the web store as well as locally "installed" apps and it will dynamically learn from your searches to deliver the most relevant results. A few more minor tweaks have also been baked in, such as monitor scaling, wallpaper syncing and "two-finger history navigation" (which we're pretty sure is fancy talk for a back and forward browser gestures). The update should be rolling out now to all Chrome OS devices, with the exception of the Thinkpad X131e.

If You Want Secure E-mail, Don’t Write It or Send It

When Lavabit—an e-mail service used by National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden—suspended service last week amid hints that it had received a government demand for information, a competing service called Silent Circle made a draconian decision: to obliterate all of its customers’ stored e-mail.

The episode pointed out two fundamental weaknesses in e-mail. First, even if an e-mail service encrypts messages for secrecy, as Lavabit and Silent Circle did, the e-mail headers and routing protocols reveal who the senders and receivers are, and that information can be valuable in its own right. And second, the passcodes used as keys to decrypt messages can be requested by the government (if held by the e-mail company) or simply stolen by sophisticated malware.

When e-mail was created 40 years ago, security or anonymity wasn’t part of the design. The routing and labeling protocols plainly state what computer sent it or forwarded it, what computer received it, and what time all this happened. “There are far too many leaks of information and metadata intrinsically in the e-mail protocols themselves,” says Mike Janke, CEO of Silent Circle, whose customers include people in companies and government agencies with secrets to protect. “It doesn’t matter what you try to do with e-mail, there are these inherent weaknesses. So we got rid of Silent Mail [the company’s e-mail service]. We deleted all of it, burned it, and threw it in the ocean with locks and chains on it. People lost all their e-mail, but the response went from ‘Why would you do this?’ to ‘Thanks for doing this.’ “

Lavabit and Silent Circle and some other providers have offered a straightforward proposition: they will keep your e-mail encrypted at all times, except when you are reading and writing it on your own computer. This is in contrast to services like Gmail, which encrypts e-mail only for the trip over the network but stores the messages “in the clear” in its servers and mines that data to serve you ads.

Lavabit’s founder, Ladar Levinson, says he suspended operations rather than be “complicit in crimes against the American people.” Levinson could not be reached for comment but told the New York Times that he was under a gag order, implying that he received a National Security Letter, in which the FBI or NSA demands information for an investigation relevant to national security and requires the recipient to not reveal even having received the letter. In contrast to Silent Circle, the Lavabit data has not been deleted, he says.

Janke says that news triggered an emergency conversation with Phil Zimmermann, a Silent Circle founder who in 1991 created the e-mail encryption protocol known as PGP for “pretty good privacy” (see “An App Keeps Spies Away from Your iPhone”). “Once we saw what happened with Lavabit, we realized it wasn’t days, it was hours that we had to make a decision,” Janke says. But he adds that he never did receive a request.

The problem—besides the metadata that accompanies all e-mail—was that 98 percent of Silent Mail customers opted to let Silent Circle hold the encryption keys, which made using the service much easier. When users manage their own keys, they have to log into a special system to exchange cryptographic keys with each person they want to e-mail with. By possessing the keys to manage this process, the company could decrypt the messages if forced to. “If we got a legitimate request, we could in fact turn it over,” Janke says (see “NSA Chief Says U.S. Phone and Web Surveillance Sets Standard for Other Countries”).

Silent Circle remains in business, because fewer than 5 percent of its customers were using the now-deleted mail service. Most of them use other Silent Circle services that encrypt phone, text, and video content. This allows users to, for example, send an encrypted file via text message and even attach a time limit so that it will be deleted from both the sending and receiving devices after some period.

Yet these services also can be undermined by malware that can steal encryption keys stored on computers or grab data that has been decrypted by the user. “It is very difficult to be malware-protected,” says Radu Sion, a computer scientist and security expert at Stony Brook University. “A highly determined adversary—I don’t want to say the government here—will have access to any machine in the world.”

Existing e-mail services could become a little more private by encrypting header information. The techniques are well understood, but there is limited demand for them, Sion says. “The public is not asking for it since people don’t care about privacy, really,” he says. “And the cloud e-mail providers make lots of money by mining your messages.”

Meanwhile, Silent Circle is working on replacing its defunct e-mail service with a system that doesn’t rely on traditional e-mail protocols and keeps no messages or metadata within the company’s grasp. It is based on a protocol often used for instant messages and other applications. Janke says the goal is for this to not be e-mail, but “for all intents and purposes it looks, feels, and acts like e-mail.”

Diamond can be used in making quantum computers

quantum effect named after an ancient Greek puzzle has been observed in diamond, paving the way for the use of diamond crystals in quantum computer chips.

The quantum Zeno effect gets its name from the Greek philosopher Zeno of Elea, who lived in the fifth century bc and suggested that if the position of a flying arrow is well-defined for a moment of time, then it makes no progress in that moment, and so can never reach its destination.

In the quantum version of the arrow paradox, theoretical physicists posited in 1977 that if a quantum system is measured often enough, its state will be unable to progress, as if it were true that 'a watched pot never boils'. The hypothesis arises from a fundamental postulate of quantum theory, which says that measuring a property of an object, such as its position, affects its state. The quantum Zeno effect was first observed experimentally in 1989 in laser-cooled ions trapped by magnetic and electric fields.

Now, quantum physicist Oliver Benson and his colleagues at Humboldt University in Berlin have seen the effect in a diamond crystal — a material that would be easier to manufacture on a large scale for quantum computing. The team posted its paper on the arXiv and it has been accepted for publication in Physical Review A.

Disrupted oscillations
The researchers focused on nitrogen–vacancy (NV) centers, imperfections in diamond that arise where an atom of nitrogen and an empty space replace carbon atoms at two neighboring spots in the crystal lattice. The team used microwaves to change the magnetic spin state of an electron located at an NV center, and then used a laser beam to trigger red fluorescence that revealed which of two possible states the electron was in at any given moment. When they measured the NV center in this way, the researchers found that the oscillation between the two states was disrupted — just as would be expected if the quantum Zeno effect were operating.

“The first step is to see the effect is there, but the next step is to implement quantum gates based on diamond,” says Benson, referring to the quantum analogue of the logic gates that form the integrated circuits in ordinary computer chips. In quantum computing, information is stored in the quantum states of carriers such as photons or diamond defects. But so far, decoherence, a degradation of the delicate states caused by noise in the environment, has prevented researchers from storing more than a few bits of linked quantum information in a diamond crystal at a time. Constantly measuring the states could protect them from uncontrolled decay and allow researchers to scale up the amount of information stored, says Benson.

Ronald Walsworth, an atomic physicist at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, whose team made a tentative suggestion in 2010 that the quantum Zeno effect operates in diamond, says that evidence is growing, but that it will probably need to be clearer that the disruption of oscillations is due to the quantum process, and not other effects, before it can be used for quantum computing.

Why Does Food Taste So Delicious?

Taste is not what you think. Every schoolchild learns that it is one of the five senses, a partner of smell and sight and touch, a consequence of food flitting over taste buds that send important signals—sweet or bitter, nutrient or poison?—to the brain. Were it so simple.

In the past decade our understanding of taste and flavor has exploded with revelations of the myriad and complex ways that food messes with our consciousness—and of all the ways that our biases filter the taste experience. Deliciousness is both ingrained and learned, both personal and universal. It is a product of all five senses (hearing included) interacting in unexpected ways, those sensory signals subject to gross revision by that clump of nerve tissue we call the brain.

Let's start at the beginning: Food enters your mouth, meets your teeth and begins to be broken down by enzymes in your saliva. The morsel soon moves over your papillae, the few thousand bumps that line your tongue. Each papilla houses onionlike structures of 50 to 100 taste cells folded together like the petals of a young flower about to bloom—taste buds, we call them. These cells have chemical receptors attuned to the five basic tastes—bitter, sweet, sour, salt and umami, the last a word borrowed from Japanese that describes the savory flavors of roast meat or soy sauce.

These five tastes are enough to help determine if the thing we just put into our mouth should go any farther—if it's sweet or savory and thus a probable source of nutrients or if it's bitter and potentially poisonous. Yet they can't get close to communicating the complexity of the flavors that we sense.

For that, we turn to the nose. As you take in a piece of food, a little air is forced up passageways at the back of the mouth, where scent receptors in the nasal cavity detect thousands of volatile chemicals that add up to complex flavors [see interactive]. This retronasal olfaction, as it's called, has almost nothing to do, physiologically, with the act of sniffing your food. Your brain knows where your smell signals are coming from—through your nostrils or from your mouth. And in the case of the latter, it ropes them together with the signals from the taste buds. Retronasal olfaction produces a completely unique sense—neither smell nor taste alone but a hybrid that we call flavor. It's a process as transformative and irreversible as turning fuel and oxygen into flame.

Our sense of taste doesn't end at the mouth. In recent years scientists have found taste receptors all over the body, discoveries that have solved some long-standing mysteries. For 50 years scientists had been trying to figure out why eating glucose produces a much sharper insulin release than injecting the same amount of glucose directly into the bloodstream. In 2007 they discovered that cells lining the small intestine also contain taste receptors. When these intestinal sweet sensors detect sugar, they trigger a cascade of hormones that ultimately ends with a squirt of extra insulin into the bloodstream.

Our sense of taste isn't just limited to the gut. For example, your nose is lined with cells that sense bitter chemicals. If there's poison in the air, they reflexively stop you from pulling it into your lungs. If the poison does get to the throat, bitter detectors in the trachea trigger cilia to help clear the airway.

This physiology may explain what we mean by flavor—but anatomy doesn't much help us understand what we like. Our flavor preferences take shape over a lifetime, beginning while we are still in the womb. Babies whose mothers consume garlic while pregnant are more likely to enjoy the flavor of garlic in breast milk. Pregnant women who drink carrot juice are more likely to have kids who like carrots. The evolutionary justification is simple enough: If Mom ate it, it's safe.

Indeed, we use our friends and loved ones in much the same way that medieval monarchs used food tasters—let them try it first, then let's see how they are doing in 20 minutes. The principle holds all the way down the food chain. Rats hate the taste of cocoa, yet some enterprising scientists recently separated a rat from its brood and coaxed it to eat some anyway. The rat then returned to its group. When the other rats smelled the cocoa on its breath, they changed their minds and suddenly couldn't get enough cocoa.

Children are harder to convince—they have to try an unfamiliar food about nine times, on average, before they begin to like the taste. As any parent will attest, so much of the eventual enjoyment rests on how well Mom and Dad sell it. Moreover, the same holds true for adults, as decades of increasingly sophisticated food-marketing campaigns have demonstrated.

The environment sends many cues about how food should taste. In one experiment, researchers connected volunteers' tongues to a low-voltage electrical device, showed them pictures of food items and then sent a mild shock across their taste buds—a sensation not unlike licking a battery. The shock was supposed to impart a neutral taste. Asked afterward to rate how pleasurable the shock was, those volunteers who saw photographs of sweet or fatty foods rated the stimulus far more pleasurable than those who saw a low-calorie food.

The visual and auditory triggers can be so obvious as to appear comical. Potato chips taste crisper if you hear a crunch over headphones. White wine with a drop of red food coloring tastes like red wine—even to experienced wine tasters. People will eat less food off of a red plate. A block of cheese with sharp edges tastes sharper than one with round corners.

It's not all from our mouth, or our mouth and the back of our nose, or our mouth, and nose, and taste cells in the intestine. Deliciousness comes from our mother, our childhood, the room we are eating in, the plates we are eating on and the friends we are eating with. It's mental as much as chemical.

The Confusing Science Of Whether Video Games Are Ruining Your Life

A brief round-up of how video games are destroying your life and also making you a superhuman

A good rule of thumb in life is that if you enjoy something, it must be terrible for you. Kidding! Kind of. So it goes with video games. Except not, sometimes. But maybe also yes? Or both at the same time?

Historically speaking, video games are a relatively new cultural phenomenon. So, as you might expect, some of the science on their psychological and physiological effects is murky at best. Popular media organizations (hi!) looking for a common link between kids to explain uncommon behavior might also sensationalize video-game research.

It's probably safe to say that video games have some good effects on our health, along with some not-so-good effects, but it's not always easy to suss out which are which. Here are some examples of how confusing things get:

Games can make you smarter.

Games can make you smarter.

Games can make you dumber.

Games can make you worldly.

Games can make you a better driver.

Games can improve your reflexes.

Games don't improve reflexes.

Certain games are relaxing.

Lots of games are relaxing.

Games can cause aggression.

Games do not cause aggression.

Games are kind of related to aggression.

Games make you snack a lot.

Games can make you fat.

Games can make you skinny.

China Will Stop Harvesting Organs From Prisoners in November

For decades, the organs of executed Chinese prisoners have gone directly to hospitals. But in November, the Chinese government will be phasing out the practice and will only take organs from donors who agree to the donation. The announcement makes China the last in the world to give up the practice, one that human rights organizations and the World Health Organization have been pushing against for years.
the number of organs that came from prisoners wasn’t small. About 64 percent of the transplanted organs in the country came from executions. This year, that number was at 54 percent. Just like everywhere else, the number of Chinese who need organs far surpasses the number who are able to get them. But it’s not just ethics concerns that makes harvesting organs from prisons a dubious practice. Huang Jeifu, a senior Chinese official, told that organ donations from prisoners tended to have higher rates of infection than those from willing donors.

Investigations into China’s capital punishment system in the past have suggested that for the right price, prisoners could even be killed for their organs. “It’s very clear that what’s been happening is that people are being executed to order,” Fiatarone Singh, a researcher at the University of Syndey told that. “It’s inconceivable that someone could go to China and then just by chance a prisoner would be executed. And just by chance their blood type matches yours.”

But not everyone is certain that this new policy will help. China denied that organs were coming from prisoners until 2005. They passed a law in 2006 to stop organs from coming from prisoners, but they didn’t do anything to enforce that law until 2010. Until then, there was no real organized organ donation program for non-prisoners at all. The World Health Organization is hopeful, however, that the new policies in China will actually be acted upon. They spoke with Haibo Wang, the director of the China Organ Transplant Response System Research Center who pointed out some of the unique challenges to organ donation in China—including the cultural belief that people should be buried whole.

A small but growing number of people are deciding to donate willingly, though. In 2010, only 63 people in China donated organs. This year, about 130 people donated organs each month. For context, there are 300,000 people on the wait list every year for organs in China
  

Japan again faces radiation problems

A puddle of the contaminated water was emitting 100 millisieverts an hour of radiation, Kyodo news agency said earlier this week.

Masayuki Ono, general manager of Tepco, told Reuters news agency: “One hundred millisieverts per hour is equivalent to the limit for accumulated exposure over five years for nuclear workers; so it can be said that we found a radiation level strong enough to give someone a five-year dose of radiation within one hour.”

Japan has declared a level-three “serious incident” situation. Two years ago, at the height of the plant’s meltdown, Fukushima was a level seven. This is the highest warning issued since then
Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco) said it did not know how the water leaked out or where it had leaked to, but it believed that the spillage had not flowed into the Pacific ocean.
On top of this latest emergency, Tepco announced earlier this month that contaminated groundwater continues to be a problem.

The environment ministry recently announcement that 300 tonnes of contaminated groundwater from Fukushima Daiichi is still seeping over or around barriers into the Pacific every day, more than two years after it was struck by a tsunami in March 2011. Government officials said they suspected the leaks had started soon after the accident, which resulted in a nuclear meltdown.

Kalabhag dam

THIS refers to a report (May 3) wherein the thermal power’s yearly cost is about $7 billion in the form of oil imports. This is the result of not building the Kalabagh Dam which would have given us $7 billion yearly in the form of cheap power and agriculture boom.

But this was not to be due to the silly obstruction of some of our political parties that could not see beyond their nose. The plight of Pakistan with 12 to 16 hours of loadshedding resulting in industrial shutdown and massive unemployment is for all to see.

The political parties vying against each other to promise utopia for Pakistan are forgetting the basic fact that without addressing the energy problem they cannot usher in prosperity.

Everybody is oblivious of the importance of the Kalabagh Dam to solve all our economic problems and they are only giving sweet dreams to the gullible public without mentioning the Kalabagh dam which holds the key to progress in Pakistan.

A view point on the ,white paper by pti

Imran khan knows that it will be very difficult if not impossible to prove the rigging in elections that took place on 11th may as all parties accuse each other of that and we cannot turn our face from the fact that it is indeed true as every party was involve in it including pti
    Now the question arise that what is the purpose of the escalating talks about rigging by imran khan and others is it just point scoring or physiological tactics.In   my view these are physiological tactics to give there voters hope that they will win next time or acquire large number of seats at least as the reason for there loss was not the limited popularity of there polices rather it was unjust elections. It is same as blow fish as it blows itself to make itself look larger than it is.
  So the 2500 page's worth white paper is intended to cast a physiological effect more than to back up the blame game as we have seen so many times parties accusing each other of having member's with fake degrees and every time we see one after another black sheep having fake degrees come form every party including from a party which is so called the party of literate.

The writer of this article knows nothing about politics....  :-p

Nawaz sharif a political history

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif takes on the helm of affairs at a time when Pakistan is suffering from numerous problems, ranging from a stagnant economy to growing militancy and a crippling power crisis.
Having served as prime minister twice before, Nawaz belongs to an influential industrialist family. He is a graduate of the Government College Lahore and has a law degree from Punjab University Law College.
Nawaz rose to prominence when he was inducted in the Punjab cabinet first as finance minister during General Ziaul Haq’s regime and later served as chief minister of Punjab in the 1980’s for two consecutive terms.
He was first elected as prime minister in November 1990 under the banner of the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad – a conglomerate of different right and centre-right political parties – succeeding former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, whose government was sent packing in 1990 after less than two years in power.

Nawaz at the very outset espoused privatisation, reversing the policy of nationalisation pursued by the founding leader of PPP Zulifikar Ali Bhutto in the 1970’s.
He also initiated major road construction and other infrastructure projects, including South Asia’s first motorway. Other initiatives of his first government included introducing market reforms and pro-business regulations.
But with pressure from within the ruling coalition and PPP accusing IJI of coming to power with the support of the military establishment, differences between Nawaz Sharif and then president Ghulam Ishaq Khan started to emerge, leading to an unceremonious dismissal of his government in 1993.

Nawaz was elected prime minister for a second time in 1997 with a so-called “heavy mandate” following the dismissal of Benazir’s second government. With a two-thirds majority, Nawaz used this clout to push through several amendments in the Constitution, including taking away key powers from the Presidency.
His second term is best remembered for conducting Pakistan’s first nuclear test in 1998 in a tit-for-tat response to India tests a few months prior.
A peace initiative with India in the shape of the Lahore declaration with then Indian premier Atal Bihari Vajpayee did not last long, as a few months after signing the friendship pact the now nuclear-armed rivals were engaged in the Kargil war.

Then followed the military coup of 1999, when Nawaz’s government was toppled by General (retd) Pervez Musharraf, whom he had appointed as the army chief.
After a brief incarceration, he went in exile to Saudi Arabia in 2000 after an alleged agreement under which he was barred from returning and engaging in politics for the next 10 years.
Amid the mayhem of the 2007 emergency imposed by Musharraf and the sacking of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Nawaz got permission to return and his party was allowed to take part in the 2008 elections.
After securing second place in the polls behind PPP, the two parties initially formed a coalition government which barely lasted a few months.
The PML-N parted ways with the PPP-led coalition since the two could not see eye-to-eye on the issue of reinstating Chief Justice Chaudhry and other judges who were sacked by Musharraf.
In March 2009, Nawaz started a long march against the PPP government to press for the restoration of the sacked judges, which was successful as the judges were reinstated.
Nawaz remained a vocal critic of President Zardari and his party during its government, even though he was often accused by his political rival Imran Khan of being a ‘friendly’ opposition leader.
1980
Nawaz rose to prominence when he was inducted in the Punjab cabinet first as finance minister during General Ziaul Haq’s military regime and later served as chief minister of Punjab in the 1980’s for two consecutive terms.
1990
He was elected Prime Minister in November 1990 for the first time under the banner of Islami Jamhori Ittehad (IJI)-a conglomerate of different right and center-right political parties succeeding Benazir Bhutto’s government which was sent packing after less than two years in power in 1990.
1997
Nawaz came to power again in 1997 following dismissal of Benazir Bhutto’s second government with so-called “heavy mandate” having a two-thirds majority in the parliament. Using the clout he brought several amendments in the constitution that made him a very powerful prime minister.
1999
On October 12, 1999 Nawaz Sharif’s govt was toppled by General Pervez Musharraf. Nawaz was sent to Attock fort and was charged in a plane highjacking case. Benazir Bhutto was already in exile and the former foes became allies when Nawaz moved to London from Saudi Arabia after five years.
2000
He went into exile to Saudi Arabia in 2000 after an alleged agreement under which he was barred from returning and had to keep away from politics for ten years.
2007
In 2007 Nawaz got permission to return home and his party was allowed to take part in elections that were due in January 2008. These elections were delayed for a month due to assassination of PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto in a bomb and gun attack during the election campaign.
2008
February 2008 polls brought PPP into power with PML-N becoming second largest party. The two parties initially started a coalition government that hardly lasted a few months.
2009
In March 2009, Nawaz started a long march against the PPP government to press for reinstatement of the sacked judges.

How touchscreens work

How Does a Touch Screen Work?
A touch screen has three main components: a touch sensor, a controller, and a software driver. The touch screen itself is an input device, so it needs to be combined with a monitor and a PC to make a complete touch input system.

Touch Sensor

There are a number of touch screen technologies on the market today. Each uses a different method to sense touch input. Often these are a plastic or glass panel placed under the bezel of the LCD screen.

Touch Controller

The touch controller is a small PC card that connects between the touch sensor and the PC. It is usually installed inside the touch monitor. The touch monitor will have an extra cable connection on the back – usually USB or serial (RS-232) that connects directly to this board. The touch controller takes information from the touch sensor and translates it into information that the PC can understand.

Touch Screen Software Driver

Our touch screen monitors and kiosks are supplied with touch screen software drivers that allow the touch screen to emulate the left button click of a mouse.  Installing the software is usually a quick process consisting of running the installation file. Most users find that they simply accept the defaults, and installation normally just takes a few moments.

Once the touch screen driver software is installed, touching the screen is the same as clicking your mouse at the same point on the screen. This allows the touch screen to work with a vast amount of pre-existing mouse driven software. This also allows for simple development of new applications, because no additional code or knowledge is required to develop software for use with the touch screen. New touch screen applications can be developed in the same way as mouse driven software.  The touch screen can emulate left-clicks, double-clicking, and dragging. When the screen is touched, it is the same as if you used your mouse to move the pointer to that spot, and then clicked your left mouse button.
Resistive touchscreens - which are used on some Samsung, HTC and LG phones, and are typical of ATMs, supermarket checkout stations and the electronic signature doodad the UPS guy carries - have a glass panel that’s covered with conductive and resistive metallic layers. These two layers are held apart by spacers, and an electrical current runs through them when the screen is operational. When a user touches the screen, the two layers make contact in that spot. The change in the electrical field is noted and the device coordinates the point of contact so a device driver can translate user touches and movements into something that the OS can understand.

Capacitive touchscreens - used on the iPhone, Droid Eris and Blackberry Storm, among other smartphones - have a glass screen covered by a transparent conductor layer that stores an electrical charge. When a user touches a finger (which is also conductive) to the screen, the electrical field distorts and the device uses that to figure out where the screen was touched and relays the info to the driver.

The big drawback of capacitative screens is that they don’t work well, or at all, when the user's fingers are covered by electrically insulating material, like gloves. If the choice between cold hands and using your phone is a hard one, you can get around the issue by buying gloves that have conductive threads woven into the fingertips, or by making your own.

Friction Factor confusion

This topic has often caused a lot of confusion in many people while calculating pressure drop of fluids in pipe. Many people are even unaware of the presence of 2 types of friction factor, wherein one is 4 times the other.
Moody's friction factor (also known as the Darcy friction factor) and Fanning friction factor are the two types of friction factor used in this world for pressure drop calculations.

Relationship:

f = Friction factor.
fd = Darcy friction factor
ff = Fanning friction factor.

NOTE: The third friction factor (which is mentioned above in the correlation) is used in Coulson & Richardson Vol. 6 for pressure drop calculation.

In text books you'll come across various pressure drop equations, the only difference lies in the type of friction factor used. Darcy / Moody friction factor is most widely used for pressure drop calculations, as they can be easily interpreted from moody's chart.

To keep it simple and straight forward, note the following points and equations very carefully to avoid any confusion on this topic henceforth.

Equations:

1. Darcy Friction Factor --- Laminar condition

Pressure drop equation:

Moody's Chart representing Darcy Friction factor:

Ô

The graph above is a Moody's chart for calculating friction factor using Reynolds Number (Re) and relative roughness. The " f '" on Y-axis is Darcy friction factor and not Fanning friction factor.

TRICK:
Follow the red line marked on the graph, it indicates that for Re = 1000, f = 0.064 which satisfies the Darcy's equation for laminar case. Thus this moody's chart gives us the Darcy friction factor and now I can, without any hesitation, use this " f D " value to calculate the pressure drop by using the corresponding pressure drop equation.

2. Fanning Friction Factor --- Laminar condition

Pressure drop equation:

BEWARE !! Many a times the graph that you might be referring to will give a value of f = 0.016 for Re = 1000 i.e. using f = 16 / Re, so this is fanning friction factor. The following Moody's chart shows the aforementioned case.

3) Friction Factor:

According to Coulson and Richardson vol. 6, we have the following equation for pressure drop calculation and for that particular equation if you are using, make sure you use the correct graph for that equation which is shown below.

NOTE: Its not necessary to have Laminar condition to use this equations / graphs as I have highlighted and focused only on the laminar region. Its just to make my point clear of explaining you the trick to help you to check whether the curve that you are referring to gives you Darcy or Fanning friction value and which graph and equation you need to use for calculation of pressure drop.
I have here made it easy by putting the pressure drop equation inline with their respective graphs.

I Hope, the point of this article is clear and friction factors won't be any confusion in any minds from now on. I follow the same practice while determining the value of friction factor and this check has never failed me.

Fix your steps of calculating pressure drop, but I insist on using Darcy equation i.e. Darcy friction factor. This should not lead to a conclusion that fanning friction factor should not be used. Remember either of it can be used, and both will lead to correct pressure drop, provided you use the right set of equations and keep the relationship in mind

Just in case you get confused again, you can re-visit this article and if you have any doubts in mind you can leave a comment here.