Puneet Mehrotra wishes more tech innovators will notice the gap between technology and male groomingThe cavemen didn't bother about them. Julius Caesar used to get his facial hair plucked. Sean Connery used a single blade. My “Topaz” moment reminds me of my father teaching me shaving, correcting me of going in the “direction” of the stubble otherwise it may bleed. Single blade moments have a lot of blood in them!The cutting edge technology I have so far used consists of five blades by Gillette. It does give me the freedom irrespective of the direction of the growth of the stubble but beyond the face, it becomes a dangerous proposition especially in zones down south even for the masochist males.Personal Grooming Without Pain I have often wondered what’s next in personal grooming. As the Venture Capitalists say “what’s the next solution can you offer to problems?”. I often wondered if in the internet of things, all the bright minds can think of apps and software when it came to technology. What about personal grooming? How can personal grooming be linked to the www? Also is it possible to have get rid of male hair without blood and pain?Chestful of PrideGrowing up in the 80’s the male chest hair was a sign of masculinity. With the iconic open shirt wonders like Vinod Mehra and Vinod Khanna, hair popping out of the shirt meant the symbol of an ultimate male. Anil Kapoor’s growth twenty years ago may have been the sex symbol but all that changed in the 2000’s. A clean shaven chest and grooming is indeed booming and is going south – quite literally!With latest surveys and trends claiming that women prefer men who are clean, a hairless chest may not necessarily mean a chest full of cuts and wounds thanks to technology.Body Grooming TrimmerTraditionally it may have been waxing and the razor. Both painful with a lot of bloodshed. It’s a welcome relief to find Philips Body Grooming Trimmer. It not only manages this well. Having been in the business for decades Philips probably knows what skin sensitivity means and the trimmer translates “male” blade positioning with the skin sensitivity of women, which simply translates into a smooth non-painful experience. What’s more you can even trim under the shower. The battery lasts upto 2 months.Noteworthy is this is not a normal trimmer (those are different beard trimmers which come in the Rs.3000 range) but a body specific trimmer called Bodygroom series 1000 priced Rs.1295. It may just be worth it, if you want to transform your look from Akshay Kumar version 1998 to Akshay Kumar version 2015 without the pain and blood. An Augmented RealityThe other day Pepper Fry released an augmented reality app where you can use your real home settings to try out new furniture on your mobile. I wonder why has it never occurred to any of the bright tech kids to have an augmented reality for male grooming. How can anyone ever know whether a certain style would look good or no unless one tries it out. If you goto Google Playstore and iTunes it has more apps for “dog grooming” than male grooming.The Last WordMale body grooming has been either a taboo subject or seen as feminine. There are topics you won’t discuss with anyone. The definition of what macho means changes with time. Yet at the heart of it is the intimacy with self, a celebration of being. Body is perhaps the most beautiful vehicle given to us by nature to be able to experience this beautiful world. In a world where Fifty Shades of Grey is right in the open, male body grooming isn’t just about style and confidence but an intimacy with self and deserves more attention. I wish more tech innovators will notice this gap between technology and male grooming.Puneet Mehrotra writes on Life and Technology. You can contact him at puneet@tbe.in
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If you’re on the go a lot and want to make sure you make the best use of your time, get the bulk of your reading done aloud on your Android phone while you’re dashing about. Use earphones if you want to avoid bothering anyone else. Ideal for car and metro listening, @Voice Read Aloud is a great app to just send text to when you’re catching up on essential news, picking up links from Twitter, or just browsing. You use your Share or Send button to channel the content to the read-aloud app and get your eyes off the screen while the app reads for you.A few tips though. You can collect a bunch of articles and use the app’s add-on feature to put articles into a play list. That way, you don’t need to get interrupted while doing something and get to the next piece.Another thing is that you can even have your mail read out to you, which is worth it if it’s long and if you’re tired and don’t want to look at your screen any longer. In fact, reading aloud is a great way to save yourself eye strain overall. To listen to your mail, you can cut and paste the text into the app. Cut and paste is also always a good idea if some article ends up with a format problem and doesn’t show up on the app properly.Another thing you can do to improve the experience is download a language pack for better quality voices. Once that’s done, the reading doesn’t sound horribly electronic and flat but instead is quite easy to listen to for extended periods.The add-on and language packs can cost a small amount, depending on what you choose, but the Read Aloud app itself is free. It tends to go through a lot of updates, which is a little annoying, but on the other hand, it’s too useful to stay annoyed with for very long.
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Back in 2012, Google Glass had its cool side. A select bunch of people had them to begin with, and when they became a little more available, few people could afford them. In India, it was a rare sight to see someone walking around loose wearing Google Glass.But this hi-tech and innovative wearable had its creepy side too. It was distracting, both for the wearer, who always seemed to be elsewhere, and for anyone interacting with the wearer because you never knew what was going on behind that frame and whether you were being photographed, video’d and uploaded online. Regulatory issues came up in droves. Google Glass however was an experimental project of Google X, where interesting things like self-driving cars were tested in different situations. With Google Glass, there were dozens of learnings about the unusual hardware of the product, the usage in the real world, the reactions and problems experienced, etc. But like all experiments, there’s a time to end, and that’s what happened to Google Glass when Google announced it was finished with the current version of the wearable. Mala BhargavaNow though, Google Glass is coming back. For those who wondered what good the whole thing was, will be interested to know that this time around, Glass isn’t just going to be let loose on the streets with no purpose but is going to be put to use in the enterprise, for healthcare, and for other specific uses. And apps needed to make that happen are in development.For example, several apps have been developed in the US to help patients of Parkinsonism and other movement disorders by using augmented reality to initiate and guide movement, exercises and dance. 9to5 Google thinks it’s the enterprise where Google Glass part 2, actually codenamed GG1, will find its home next. Just as there are apps being developed for smartwatches, there is a strong case for uses that use Glass, removing the need to look down at your hand. For instance, an overlay with customer information could help airline and hotel staff to assist people quicker and deliver services in a more customised manner. This has already been tried with the earlier Glass and other hi tech eyewear. Glass can also be used to overlay contextual information when the situation calls for it, such as for training on something complex. It could be used to navigate a task just as it could to use a map to a location.Even though specific usage in industry is the way to go for GG1, as it is for many other wearables, no one expects it to be an easy fit. How, for example, will security and integration with enterprise backend be handled? How will eye strain, despite a new design that tries to address this, through the day every day be dealt with? New problems are bound to come up as the device begins to be tested in the enterprise. While GG1 is bound to be useful, this time round Robert Scobble, who took his Google Glass in for a bath and posted pictures, is less likely to repeat the performance.
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Despite several warnings from governments, enterprises and IT experts, the entire IT world is devising strategies to handle the Heartbleed bug - an OpenSSL vulnerability, says Shibu PaulJust over a year ago, the tech industry was jolted by a very serious vulnerability in OpenSSL. The vulnerability Heartbleed makes it possible for anyone to steal and read encrypted information - including usernames and passwords - from servers that are considered secure. The impact of Heartbleed has extended far beyond websites using SSL encryption, affecting wireless networks and internal networks of enterprises. The security bug affects certain versions of OpenSSL that do not properly handle heartbeat extension packets. This allows attackers to craft packets that trigger a buffer over-read, resulting in the exposure of sensitive information from clients and servers.Enterprises that deployed Application Delivery Controllers (ADCs) and secure access gateways (AG Series) also incorporated proprietary SSL stack, and thus were not affected by Heartbleed. However, many competing products are based on OpenSSL, and their respective manufacturers raced to implement patches and fix to protect their customers. Despite several warnings from governments, enterprises and IT experts, the entire IT world is devising strategies to handle the Heartbleed bug - an OpenSSL vulnerability. Instead, customers that are vulnerable to this issue need to implement proprietary SSL, which offers significant advantages over open source solutions.With the 20-20 hindsight afforded by a year’s distance from the Heartbleed announcement, what has changed and what have we learned?Heartbleed was neither the first, nor the last: OpenSSL had multiple vulnerability announcements prior to Heartbleed and even over the last year. With regard to attacks like Man-in-the-Middle and ClientHello, neither AG Series SSL VPNs nor APV Series ADCs were vulnerable due to our proprietary SSL stack. The FREAK vulnerability affected very few products, i.e. end-of-sale ADCs and SSL VPNs, as well as some functions of WAN optimization controllers. New software versions for these products are available to mitigate these vulnerabilities.Security is a mindset, not a feature: There were vulnerability announcements about SSL/TLS and other components of application delivery networking last year. However, all SSL companies focusing on security need to terminate SSL traffic on ADCs to safeguard vulnerable applications and avoid similar vulnerabilities. From the beginning, companies have to be fanatical about removing unnecessary features and loopholes in the software to improve both security and performance. This security mindset paid off with the Bash vulnerability because APV and AG Series do not expose Bash for remote access.Web and application servers may still be vulnerable to Heartbleed: Security industry firm Venafi recently issued a report stating that nearly three quarters of Global 2000 firms have public-facing systems that remain vulnerable. The primary reason cited by the report was incomplete remediation, typically by failing to replace SSL keys and certificates. Note that adding a Heartbleed-proof ADC (shameless plug) like APV Series can provide an additional layer of defense while providing load balancing, SSL offloading and other functions that improve server and application performance.The nature of malicious attacks has changed: At the dawn of the Internet, it was mostly kiddie scripters and other idle minds responsible for attacks. Now, headline-grabbing malicious attacks are perpetrated by organized criminals and even nations with a goal of compromising personal financial information, sensitive corporate and government information, and even a nation’s infrastructure. The damage is about money and national security - the stakes are very high.While OpenSSL is but one potential attack vector, Heartbleed and other OpenSSL vulnerabilities point out the new reality for IT professionals; they must remain ever mindful, ever vigilant, and ever diligent to protect the networks they manage against malicious attacks.The author is Regional Sales Director – India, ME and SEA, Array Networks
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Symantec has confirmed the existence of a new zero-day vulnerability in Adobe Flash which could allow attackers to remotely execute code on a targeted computer. Since details of the vulnerability are now publicly available, it is likely attackers will move quickly to exploit it before a patch is issued.Details of the vulnerability surfaced following a cyberattack against the controversial Italian hackers-for-hire firm Hacking Team. Proof-of-concept code for exploit of the vulnerability was part of a large cache of internal information leaked by the attackers. Given the source of the proof-of-concept code, it is possible that this vulnerability has already been exploited in the wild. Following its disclosure, it can be expected that groups of attackers will rush to incorporate it into exploit kits before a patch is published by Adobe.Analysis by Symantec has confirmed the existence of this vulnerability by replicating the proof-of-concept exploit on the most recent, fully patched version of Adobe Flash (18.0.0.194) with Internet Explorer. Successful exploitation could cause a crash and potentially allow an attacker to take control of the affected computer.Symantec regards this vulnerability as critical since it could allow attackers to remotely run code on an affected computer, effectively allowing them to take control of it.Adobe has issued a security advisory to address this critical vulnerability (CVE-2015-5119), and confirmed it has been identified in Adobe Flash Player 18.0.0.194 and earlier versions for Windows, Macintosh and Linux. Adobe added it is aware of reports that an exploit targeting this vulnerability has been published publicly. Adobe expects to make updates available on 8 July 2015.
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Spam text messages are on the rise and while there are certain services offered by mobile operators to block them, a large number of texts still manage to reach your smartphone. Not only that these messages clutter your SMS inbox, but at times they also include links to malicious websites. A new app called Truemessenger has just been launched that helps users to completely block text messages from unwanted numbers, especially advertisers. The app is developed by the same company that created Truecaller, a similar app to block unwanted and spam phone calls. The new message blocking app allows you to put a name to a number on your SMS messages and automatically filter out spam. In order for the app to work, one has to replace your default SMS messaging app with the Truemessenger app through your device settings. Once that is done all your SMS messages are categorized into your Inbox and Spam folders. You can add or remove any number from either of the folders. Apart from completely moving to a new messaging app, the major downside of the app is that once you have installed it onto your smartphone, it accesses your contact list and other private information, just like Truecaller. If you don’t mind sharing your contact list, and want a simple solution to block spam messages, then Truemessenger is worth a try.
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Tech solution provider Accenture has awarded 11 research grants to top universities around the world to broaden and deepen the relationships between Accenture’s technology research and development (R&D) groups and leading university researchers. Interestingly, 5 of them are Indians - four in India and one of them working in the US.The 2015 Accenture Open Innovation university grant programme recipients and the R&D areas of focus include the following professors: David Bader, Georgia Institute of Technology; Zhejing Bao, Zhejiang University, China; Michael Bernstein and Melissa Valentine of Stanford University; Pushpak Bhattacharyya of IIT Bombay; Sutanu Chakraborti, IIT Madras, Abhijit Deshmukh of Purdue University ; F. Javier Heredia and Joaquim Minguella, Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, BarcelonaTech; Michal Kosinski, Stanford University, dean Richard Lyons, University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business; Santonu Sarkar, BITS, Pilani; and Partha Pratim Talukdar of IISC, Bangalore.The grant programme helps to support the ground-breaking efforts of leading university research teams, which will be invited to work in collaboration with researchers from the Accenture Technology Labs on R&D projects that are of strategic importance to the technology industry and Accenture’s enterprise clients. “Universities are a critical source of technical and scientific research that can deliver long-term business benefits for organizations around the world,” said Prith Banerjee, managing director of Global Technology R&D, Accenture. “We are thrilled that this grant programme, in conjunction with the Accenture Open Innovation initiative, will enable Accenture Technology Labs researchers to translate a university’s conceptual research – which spans topics from cyber security to 3D printing and cognitive computing – into ideas that can ultimately help solve real business challenges for our enterprise clients.” A part of the Accenture Open Innovation initiative, the grant program acts as a bridge-maker between Accenture’s Global 2000 clients and the technology innovation ecosystem, which includes universities, top tier accelerators, start-ups, venture capitalists and corporate R&D labs from around the world. New technology research from Accenture Strategy found that four out of five enterprise respondents reported innovation was within their top three priorities and about one quarter placed innovation as the number one priority for their organization. "I am delighted that we were amongst a select group of universities around the world to be awarded with a research grant from Accenture,” said Professor Pushpak Bhattacharyya, India Institute of Technology, Bombay. “The combination of IIT Bombay's world renowned Natural Language Processing group with Accenture’s global consulting and technology services expertise will result in a mutually enriching experience, enabling us to work together on cutting edge cognitive computing problems."
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Twitter like Facebook is cozying up to you on your birthday as it wants to serve you ads and make some moneyAs if it weren’t enough that you have a few hundred soppy birthday greetings to deal with on Facebook, you can now add many thousands to that. If your Twitter followers really love you, that is. If they don’t, not to worry, as Twitter will plant a few animated balloons on your profile, presumably making you feel all warm and fuzzy and loved all over. You can spend your special day saying thank you to everyone you don’t know, because what other way is there to celebrate, really.The reason Twitter wants to be so up-close and personal is much the same as Facebook’s – it wants to serve you ads and make some money. And well, it has to, else why would it stick around spending millions on supporting the world’s ‘stream of consciousness.’Both on Facebook and on Twitter, you can choose to let friends, relatives, followers and enemies see your date of birth in all its glory, or keep it hidden and have a more peaceful day. You can choose not to add it in the first place. But once it’s given, the network won’t care whether your friends know or now – as long as it does and its advertisers do. To show you ads of a Harley Davidson and not beauty soap, you’ll have to let the social network know something about you and a birthday is critical to direct age-specific messages at you.While Facebook has been ruling the online and mobile advertising roost, the same cannot be said of Twitter, whose CEO Dick Costolo recently stepped down after getting outright tired of investor criticism and a race for numbers. Twitter just doesn’t have enough active users, say stakeholders, and advertising dollars will only come in if the involved user base is proven to be substantial and growing rapidly. You wouldn’t think it from the noise that’s made on Twitter, but it’s actually got less users now than the photo sharing network Instagram does and has been overtaken by it in valuation.But always be wary of the word personalise in technology and social media. It means not only that you will be shown ads, which you may believe to be a small price to pay for a free service, but that your experience will be shaped and led towards further realisation. This, in a subtle way, reduces your choices while appearing to customise your experience making what the algorithm thinks you wanted, phenomenon you can already see with Google.At the same time, with today’s on-demand economy growing the way it is, you may wish Twitter well and be perfectly happy with the ads and the buy buttons. For now though, I’ll buy my own balloons.
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