Understanding the Google's WebP image format

WebP (Web Performance) is an brand new Image format developed by Google. Google purchased the technologies used in WebP format from On2Technologies. It's one of those projects of Google which aims for making the web faster. 

WebP image format comes with both Lossy and Lossless compression for images on web. When lossless compared with the PNG images WebP format gains an upperhand as it's size is found to be reduced by 25% and when compared with JPEG format it's 25%-34% smaller in size than traditional JPEG. WebP supports lossless and lossy transparency. 

WebP uses an predictive coding to encode an image. In the predictive coding methodology the current value of the neighbouring pixel is used to predict the value in the block to be coloured next. And then after this, Actual Values of neighbouring pixels - Predicted values for the current block is calculated, and the residue which is left is encoded. 

The residue obtained can be compressed easily due to the fact that it has many zero's in it. A WebP file consists of VP8 or VP8L image data, and a container based on RIFF. The standalone libwebp library serves as a reference implementation for the WebP specification and is available at this git repository and as a tarball. 


Source- https://developers.google.com/speed/webp/?csw=1


A quick comparison between the JPEG and WebP image formats - 

Topic                                         JPEG                                         WebP
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lossless Compression                  NO                                            YES

Lossy Compression                      YES                                           YES

RGB Colorspace                          YES                                           YES

Gray Scale Colorspace
(black and white)                          YES                                           YES

Alpha Channel
(Transparency)                             NO                                             YES

Supporting Applications                Universal(almost)                        Limited
                                                                                  (Google Chrome, Android, Opera, G-mail,                                                                                       Picasa, ImageMagik, GDAL and many                                                                                                        other support using plug-in)

Why using Whatsapp is not Safe on Android

Using Whatsapp on Android powered phone has become a major issue these days. This is because of the open nature of Android that allows applications to access various parts of the phone - this is why users can conveniently share almost everything through any app on Android phone. 
When an Android application is installed, whether from the Play store or through an APK file, which is an installer file for Android phones and can be downloaded from various sources, the app requests for permissions to use network and SD card etc.
When you talk to you family or friends, share pictures, videos with them; you better watch out. And this is because using some scripts or an dishonest app, anyone can get into your privacy zone and see what you talk and share. Imagine what a big loss it would be if something extremely useful is shared and is stolen. 
The reason using Whatsapp is not safe on Android is because Whatsapp chat logs are saved on the SD Card. While we have permitted many apps to access our SD Card, stealing chat logs of whatsapp becomes relatively easy. 
The previous versions of whatsapp were so insecure that didn't even encrypt data on the SD Card. So it was very easy to upload this data on a web server. Even now when whatsapp encrypts data this hack can do wonders.. 
Current whatsapp database is a SQLite3 database which for a easier use can be converted in excel for a good reason. While now whatsapp is using encryption for database it can't be opened until and unless some python scripts are on the work to get the job done. 
Thus every application can read whatsapp's database and it's possible to decrypt it too. 

How apps invade your privacy

Apps Apps everywhere!! Well this is what has happened to Mobile World. This can be called as an App(Application) Era where every small thing has the capability to reach globally to millions of  users. The reason is that App creation is not fixed with a specific topic. It could be anything from "Learning ABCD...XYZ" to various Informatory apps and anything. Like I said it's not limited. These Apps can be made of just anything and everything. 
Since these apps are fun to use there are some loopholes which we the users need to identify whilst installing them. When we download an App, it ask for certain Permissions and this is where we need to be smart. Attackers have developed an system by which they can access your phones each and every feature.This means you aren't safe.

We take up an example of Android operating system since it's the most widely used OS of this app era and the main target of number of attacks by the hackers. 
Whenever you download an app and try to install it, it asks for many permissions. For example 
your personal information , location, storage, phone calls etc. 
No the fact of the matter is why these many permissions? Why do a simple app or a gaming app need phones information to read a contact or write contact data.. Why does it need details of services that cost you money? Location, Storage.. etc.
Well all these permissions are nothing but a hackers way of saying "Can I hack you? Would you allow me?". And most of the users without reading all permission a certain app is demanding, click ALLOW. This is where hard time starts for a user. 
Since there are many clones of many official apps available in Google's PlayStore it's difficult to identify which one is the official one. And many users end up using Clones. 
When clones are installed i.e when these apps are allowed access from users at that time each and every feature in users phone becomes a victim. 

Systems like these are developed by hackers. The permissions which a user gives is actually seen by hackers in such a way. Now he can know your each and every detail. 
Hacker now have access to your contacts, logs, messages you exchange with family and friends. Some of the users save important passwords of bank accounts or email accounts in drafts, all of them are  compromised. It's easy for an hacker to know your location too and attack you physically if intended. 

Conclusion:- Be safe. Don't be a prey.

How to control Spam

When we talk about spam, the first thing that should come in our minds are What is spam?
Spam is an unwanted rather a message not asked to be sent over the internet. It's sent to large crowd of users for the very purpose of Advertising, Phishing, Spreading Malware etc. Spam is often considered as a major security risk.

Why is spam sent? 

Spam is sent to trick the users and get into their personal zone. This is often done by Advertising a product, Phishing, Spreading Malwares etc.

How to control Spam? (By Enduser)

Last year 80% of worlds email-traffic consisted of spam messages. With the advent of new technologies the volume of sophistication is on a tremendous rise. We spend our precious hours of life in deleting spam messages. Many new spamming techniques include the curiosity check of an end-user. An end-user may be a victim if he/she has a high curiosity level.
So now here are some techniques to control spam: 
1. Caution:- 
Many of us are often irresponsible and share our email-addresses with the people who we don't know or we are just introduced to. Not sharing email-address with the people whom we don't know is 1 way to reduce spam. Another thing which comes under this technique is whenever you forward a message, delete it's history. You may notice that when you receive a forwarded message it often says
Forward from : abc@xyz.com 
and some more email-ids, if any. When it's necessary for you to send a message to an unknown person then it's a good practice of  listing recipient's email in "Bcc." instead of "To". So now if that person forwards your email to another person than that person is unable to see your email-address. 

2. Address Munging (changing appearance):- 
Munging means to change appearance to what you really are i.e. changing your identity. This can be done when you post comments on various different websites like a website which collects reviews of users. Munging reduces the probability of your email-address being visible to attackers on web. 

3. Not Responding to spam messages:- 
Like I said with the advent of new technologies the sophistication of attacks has increased tremendously. So this category can be broadly divided in to 

3A. Curiosity Attack Spam:- 
Often these days we get an email which contains no body and no subject. This is an attack to generate a database of valid email-addresses for future use. If you respond to such an email then you are sure to receive unwanted mails in near future. 

3B. Phishing Attack Spam:- 
Links of  clone websites are broadcast. If you click on that link and enter your email and password then not only you are sure to receive spam messages but your Email address is under threat as the attacker can gain access to your email-address at any moment and use it for irrelevant reasons. 

3C. Advertising Attack:- 
It often comes up with fake discounts promises. When user responds to such attack his/her email-address is sent to attackers database for sending many such spam mails. 

4. Disabling HTML in E-mail:- 
Web browsers these days contain lots of various different functionalities like Display HTML, URLs, Images etc. This can expose users to the images which are offensive in nature in spam. Attackers write code in html that contain web bugs which allows them to see which email-address is a valid address. Javascripts can be written by attackers which can redirect your browser page to the advertising page leading to Information misuse. 

5. Reporting Spam:- 
User can be smart and track down such offensive spams and then report them. But tracking can be a difficult task as the spam senders are many in numbers. 
A free tool called Complainterator may be used in the reporting of spam. The Complainterator will send an automatically generated complaint to the registrar of the spamming domain and the registrar of its name servers.

Conclusion:- Spam cannot be eradicated completely. But it can be avoided if the end user play smart.

Whatsapp releases new update (android only) enables Hindi

After Whatsapp's memorable selling to Facebook on 19th Feb 2014 for a whooping US$19 billion, it has now released it's first set of update(2.11.186 update). These are available in Google Play Store. With this update people in India get a huge surprise as Whatsapp has enabled support in "HINDI" language too.
It was rumoured after Facebook brought it that the people would get to hide  "Last Seen".
With users demanding to hide "last seen" time-stamp, whatsapp has finally heard them. Users can now hide their O-so-Precious "Last Seen" (which was the cause of spying and many breakups) :D
Well Whatsapp ain't over by providing this feature alone. What's the use of an update if it's for a single reason. Whatsapp has along with the "hide your last seen" feature has released some more security features.
Now you can Hide your profile photo and status from the people who ain't in your favourites. This is a great feature with respect to privacy.

Well, this whatsapp is not done yet. It has done some serious work to increase the messaging history. This means you can now see more messages in a single scroll. A better Camera feature is also added so users can be able to share pictures faster than they do at this moment. Also large thumbnails for Videos is provided.

Another Striking feature which Whatsapp has given it's users is "PAY FOR A FRIEND" which means you can now pay for your friends subscription. Since, Whatsapp is free for the 1st year and from then US0.99$.

MILK Music a Samsung's Way (Currently only for Galaxy Phones)

It was a big Friday for Samsung as it entered a brand new area of Music with it's latest streaming music business called MILK Music. It's Samsung's first attempt in streaming music business in the presence of already well established giants like Apple's iTunes Radio, Pandora, Spotify etc. 

It's now available in Google's Play store and is Free to download and listen too. But the most imposing feature is that it's AD FREE.  

Samsung has worked with one of the most popular radio service Slacker(which is ad-based and has a database of 10 Million songs) to write algorithms to develop Milk Music as an add free service. 

Daren Tsui, vice president of music for Samsung's Media Solutions Center America said "Samsung's chances are very high and this will be expanded internationally". Well, the Vice President has got a point. 
Milk Music is now available only in U.S. it has 200 radio stations and 13 Million songs. Milk Music is currently available  for Samsung Galaxy users. The compatible devices as of now include Galaxy S4, Galaxy S3, Galaxy Note 2, Galaxy Note 3, Galaxy Mega, and Galaxy S4 Mini. It would be made available for Galaxy S5 which is penned to get release in April. 

Since this app has just arrived in the market, it doesn't come up with "Purchase Track" option. But it does have an option by which users can listen to these songs while they are offline. 

Windows Phone (Finally) gets Facebook

Microsoft has always been a lag when it comes to WINDOWS PHONE. For too long now Microsoft has been under the shadow of Android and iOS when it comes to providing their users with free and quality Apps. Microsoft It's trademark "Marketplace" doesn't come with the trendy apps. Take an example of an classic never-ending viral game Temple Run; year and a half after getting released on Android and iOS platforms it was finally released for Windows Phone. This shows how suppressed Microsoft has been about one area and that's APPS. 
So, what's now? Well, now Microsoft has reportedly made their developers sit with Facebook developers to create and Official Facebook App for Windows platform. This move comes exactly after 2 years of app being released for Android and iOS platforms. However, the sad news is the only Windows Phone compatible with this App are the one which operate on Windows 8.And the higher version 8.1 which is slated for a release in early April '14. The app was released on 5th march 2014. Since then it has mostly received positive response from users. (you can check for reviews and every detail from the link provided below)
You can down load official Facebook App for windows platform from here http://tinyurl.com/kzexppm
Various other Apps which Microsoft plans to release for it's Windows Platform are Snapchat, Instagram, Vine, Waze and others like Pintrest.  
Let's hope we get other well known apps soon for windows platform.

Redesigned facebook in weeks to come

Facebook releasing it's new design. 

it's been an year since Facebook promised a redesign that would be user friendly. But this proved to be 
an epic failure. Some users got the redesign eventually to get the design rolled back and then abandoned. 

The new changes include the:- 
1.Font Changes
2.Bigger Add Friend Button (since Facebook is concentrating on PEOPLE YOU KNOW section). 
3.And yes, Each post is embedded in a box. Meaning each feed gets particular space. Feeds won't
float around any-more.
It however doesn't seem like the users would get an add free Facebook. Ads will still be present in more
optimized way. 
Facebook will start roll-out of this new design to it's users in "upcoming weeks"

India 2nd among cyber attacks

Ever thought your Mobile is safe? Think again.

Well this shouldn't come as a surprise that majority of crimes, frauds committed these days are "FOR" mobiles. With a Population of 1.237 billion (as of 2012) and an estimated 91 Crore mobile phone users India 2nd on the list of countries facing cyber attack on mobiles.

Question here is what’s cyber attack? What would they get by this attack?

Well it could be summed up in easy words that it's an attempt by hackers to tear down a network. It's basically the breach of security provided by your manufacturer.

For 2nd question, it's simpler. Majority of bills are paid by using a credit/debit card using a mobile phone. So the intention of this attack is to steal your Card Number and Password.

According to Russian Cyber Security Solutions firm, Kaspersky Lab, said Russia topped the list of attacks on mobile phones, hold to be 40.30% (Russia approximately has 27 crore mobile users) which means over 10 crore mobile phones users in Russia are attacked. India, with 7.9% of attacks (nearly 7 crore 50 lakh mobile phones) stood 2nd. While Vietnam with (3.96%) is 3rd followed by Ukraine (3.84%) and the UK (3.42%).

This is no rocket science that majority of the users worldwide are Android users. Android is seen as the future of Desktops. Co-incidentally about 98.1% mobile malwares detected in 2013 targeted Android Devices. Android offers free to download apps from Google play store. Many of these banking apps are designed so as to appear real but in reality are exact clones.

Banking Trojans are by far the most dangerous type of mobile malware for users which are intended to steal money from bank accounts rather than from victim's mobile account.

It's an old saying that "The more popular you are the more vulnerable you are". Same is the case with Android, on being the top target for such attacks. Android OS architecture was under a severe threat due to the increase in Android Banking Trojans in 2013.

Cyber criminals have now become so more desperate with this method of making money. At the beginning of 2013 there were 64 known Trojans known as Banking Trojans, but by the fall of 2013 Kaspersky Lab's collected 1,321 unique samples.

Android base in India has seen a tremendous growth in last 2-3 years. It's expected that this crime may see a rise in the present year (2014) too.