Science and Nature

Google has reportedly announced a whopping 2.7 million dollars bounty if security experts are able to hack its Chrome browser-based OS at the Pwnium 4 hacking contest.

This year at the Pwnium 4, researchers would be allowed to choose between Intel- or ARM-powered laptops, while last year, they had to try to crack a Chromebook with an Intel processor. According to PC World, hackers would be paid prizes of 110,000 dollars and 150,000 dollars for exploiting the Chrome OS, and the highest bounty would be rewarded to those who deliver an exploit able to persistently compromise a Hewlett-Packard or Acer Chromebook.

Last year Google put 3.14159 million dollars in the contest, but paid out just 40,000 dollars to a prolific hacker who goes by “Pinkie Pie,” the contest’s sole participant, for what Google later called a partial exploit. Google said that it would consider larger bonuses to researchers who demonstrated a “particularly impressive or surprising exploit,” like one that could circumvent kASLR, a new variant of the better-known ASLR anti-exploit technology used by Apple, Microsoft and Chrome OS.

At full speed, the Rimac Concept_One is little more than a cherry red blur, flashing from one corner of the horizon to the other in the blink of an eye.

Electric Beast

Hamburg - Rarely has there been a World Cup that was years ago for so many negative hit the headlines as the planned 2022 tournament in the Emirate of Qatar . Have there been especially critical of the procurement practices and the scarcely tolerable temperatures , it is now a matter of life and death.

The newspaper cites documents the Nepalese embassy in Doha, according to which only between the 4th June and the 8th August 44 workers have died from Nepal - more than half of them from the consequences of a heart attack or accident at work.

In addition, thousands of Nepalis are to be exploited in the construction of the country as slaves. Some reported that they had received no wages for months, others complained that it had provided to them despite extreme heat no drinking water available. About 30 Nepalis had sought refuge at the embassy in Doha to escape the predicament.

According to the "Guardian" of the International Trade Union Confederation ITUC has calculated that at least 4,000 foreign workers will have lost their lives before the first World Cup match will kick off.

"We would like to leave, but the company will not let us," the paper quoted a Nepalese immigrant who is employed on the construction site of the giant Lusail City project.There, north of the capital Doha, to be built a new city, including the football stadium. "I'm angry about how the company treats us, but we are helpless," says the man. "I regret to have come here, but what should we do?"

The organizing committee of the World Cup said loudly "Guardian" that the work that would have directly to do with the tournament, would yet to begin. Nevertheless, it was "very concerned about the allegations against certain contractors and subcontractors" who were entrusted with the work on the Lusail City. We will pursue the matter with "the highest seriousness." The relevant government departments would launch an investigation into the allegations.

The world football governing body FIFA announced to contact the responsible persons from the desert state. "These reports will be discussed at the Executive Committee meeting on 3/4 October," shared the FIFA on Twitter.

The field trial, conducted over an existing fiber link between the BT Tower in London and BT's Adastral Park research campus in Suffolk, used a new 'flexible grid' infrastructure (Flexgrid) to vary the gaps between transmission channels, usually set at 50Gigahertz (GHz). By increasing the density of channels on the fiber, this approach achieved up to 42.5 percent greater data transmission efficiency compared to today's standard networks.

The trial demonstrated that use of the Flexgrid approach can increase BT's core network capacity using existing optical fibers, potentially reducing the expense of laying more fiber as bandwidth demands grow. This could allow BT to more easily scale its core network capacity to meet consumer and business demands for more bandwidth-hungry services such as streaming video, whilst more efficiently using its existing core fiber infrastructure.

The trial was conducted through the overlaying of an "Alien Super Channel" comprised of seven 200 Gigabits per second (Gb/s) channels bundled together to provide a combined capacity of 1.4Tb/s. By reducing the spectral spacing between the channels from 50GHz to 35GHz using the 400Gb/s Photonic Services Engine (PSE) technology on the 1830 Photonic Service Switch (PSS), spectral efficiency is enhanced by almost 43%. The 1830 PSS can be used as an optical extension shelf of the 7750 Service Router (SR) and the 7950 Extensible Routing System (XRS). Flexgrid is the key to creating high-capacity, spectrally efficient super channels. The super channel is "alien" because it operates transparently on top of BT's existing optical network.

The people of Japan have been enchanted by the longest, largest and fastest maglev train in the world. From the middle of the twentieth century, the engineers are working on the maglev train concept. In 1968, James Powell, a researcher at Brook haven National Lab, thought of using maglev trains (derived from magnetic levitation). The old wheel and axle model has been replaced by levitation system in maglev which lifts the cars by magnetism.

The lift and push are provided to the train by the repulsive and attractive forces of magnetism used by this system.

The maglev trains that are operating at the present have been designed by the engineers in the preceding decade. A new maglev train has been tested on the Yamanashi Maglev Test Line recently.

The most recent maglev train in Japan is known as the LO Series and can run at speeds of up to 311mph (500 km/h). In its first run along the 26.6-miles test track, the train reached its top speed before it touched the 3-mile marker.

People who had the honor to ride on this high-tech LO told that they did not feel any turbulence or heard any noise while the train was moving at the great speeds. But it was a different story for the observers outside the train.

“[One] reporter felt a shock wave and a massive gust of wind as the train sped past him. He also reported a deafening sound that made conversation all but impossible,” said Asahi Shimbun.

It is still to be considered if this type of turbulence restricts LO from use in densely populated areas. Engineers have sufficient time till the planned inaugural date of LO in 2027 to reduce these external forces.

More maglev trains are expected to come in the areas of India, China and even the US in the future decades. The Maglev trains and Hyperloops will expectantly make mid-distance travel fast, calm and advanced.

The fact that in terms of performance statistics, he outscored the other two contenders to top the charts makes his case very strong. If he had failed this time, the credibility of Ballon D’Or would have been seriously questioned.

In the end, it was a good result for football in general.

However, the result doesn’t reflect accurately on who the best footballer in the world is. People have made all sorts of arguments in favour of each of the three nominees.

Cristiano Ronaldo had a staggering number of goals.

Franck Ribery was an integral part of a team that won every competition during the year.

Lionel Messi had another stellar season that looks slightly less worthy only because we compare his numbers for the year to the unbelievable standards he has set for himself in the past.

If we talk about the ‘true’ best player in the world, then statistics of goals and assists alone or being an integral part of an all-conquering team can’t be taken as a lone criterion. In fact, these are just two of the things that should contribute to the criteria which, in addition, consist of factors such as impact on the team, the ability to influence a game and turn it single-handedly on its head. When all these elements are considered, Messi still appears to be the number one player in the world, not to mention having won four Ballon D’Ors in a row.

Ronaldo and Ribery are both great players and supreme professionals. Ronaldo won many games for Real Madrid and so did Ribery. But none of them are as good at influencing a game as Messi is.

Lets recall the match from last season that took place at the San Siro against AC Milan, when Barcelona lost by 0-2 in the first leg, of the round of 16, in the Champions League. But Barca fought back in Camp Nou in the return leg to overturn a deficit; that had never been done in history before.

Messi rose to the occasion in unimaginable fashion and scored two splendid goals early in the game through shear individual brilliance. Such was his performance that it left everybody in awe and disbelief.

In the next round, Barça was again in trouble against Paris Saint Germain (PSG). Messi, despite being injured, got off the bench and, in a short cameo, turned the game in Barça’s favour.

And if statistics are all that important, then what about the 29 goals scored in 21 consecutive games in La Liga against every single opponent? Is that really a feat easy to achieve?

The case of Ribery for the Ballon D’Or was even weaker. Bayern Munich conquered everything but the success. This was the result of a synergistic team that they have successfully developed rather than the result of a player’s individual brilliance. Ribery is a great player but both Ronaldo and Messi are miles ahead of him.

Ballon D’Or is an individual award and hence should be awarded on individual brilliance, no matter how well the team performed. If winning something is the criterion, then there is no need to look for outstanding players in any other club – players from the wining sides of La Liga, the Premier League, Bundes Liga and the Champions League should all qualify for football’s most prestigious individual awards.

Some analysts say that Ronaldo is a more absolute player because he can use both feet, can score from free kicks and from headers, and is extremely quick and strong. Very true!

But just because Messi scores fewer goals from his other parts of the body, doesn’t mean his genius can be overtaken. This argument is the same as saying that an artist, who can draw well using either of his hands or his feet, claims he is better than Pablo Picasso. Messi is a genius and not a single player can produce the same magic as he does when the ball sticks to his feet like a magnet.

His goal against Athletic Bilbao last year was majestic and proved how well he handled the ball.

Ronaldo may produce a moment of similar genius sometimes, but Messi has been doing it week after week for many years. The more you see him do it, the more you are convinced of his ability, vision, talent and composure to execute outrageous skills that can leave you in utter disbelief.

Messi has something extraordinary that has earned him a place in the debate of world’s greatest player. Ronaldo has won two FIFA World Player of the Year awards now but it is still not likely that the argument of him being ‘the greatest player of all time’ will start floating in the football world. Ronaldo scores an amazing number of goals but looking at his playing style for Real Madrid, most of the time he heads in from long balls and free kicks or taps-in Karim Benzema’s and Mesut Ozil’s fine crosses.

Barca’s midfield engine works in a very different way and whenever Messi scores, it’s either his individual brilliance or the outcome of an outrageous link up with his team mates – team goals that you don’t see coming from any other team in the world, as often.

He scores goals and creates them too.

Sometimes without scoring a goal or setting it up, he leaves you in disbelief with a magical defence splitting pass that not even some of the best midfielders in the world could pull off.

Ronaldo won the award but it was a very closely fought contest.

Unlike the previous three occasions, Messi has won approximately twice the points than his counter. If Messi was not injured during the close of the season and then again for the most part of the new season, there is a significant chance we may have seen Messi picking up his fifth successive award this week.

Ronaldo could have lost it to Ribery, had they not extended the voting period after his heroics for Portugal against Sweden.

People say Ronaldo took Portugal to the World cup but they forget that Messi did the same, firing Argentina into the World cup with outstanding performances requiring no extra qualifying play off.

Ronaldo winning the Ballon D’Or is still praised because it’s good news for football. The decision is going to fuel up the rivalry of these two football maestros further, bringing us many more magical moments. It will also extinguish the unjust campaigning and media war disputes over the best player award such as Sepp Blatter’s ‘harmless’ jokes about Ronaldo.

But putting everything aside, Messi is undisputedly the best player in the world, by a long long way!