8 key features of Windows 10

Microsoft has announced Windows 10, the next version of its desktop operating system. The Redmond giant has paid heed to feedback from unhappy Windows 8 users and has overhauled the user interface besides adding some features already available on rival platforms.

Here are eight key features of the new operating system

1. Start menu makes a comeback

Microsoft has been demonstrating the new Start menu for quite some time, but the company has finally made it official with Windows 10.

The menu features a search bar and customisable space for pinning app shortcuts and live tiles. It looks very similar to the traditional Start menu that Microsoft discontinued with the Windows 8. On non-touch devices, it will replace the Start screen.

 2. Everything runs in Windows

Modern UI apps from the Windows Store now also open in the same format that desktop apps do and can be resized and moved around.

Just like Windows 8.1, these apps have title bars at the top that allow users to maximize, minimize, and close with a click.

3. Snap enhancements

Users can now have up to four apps snapped on the same screen with what Microsoft calls a new quadrant layout.

Windows 10 will also show other apps and programmes running for additional snapping and will make smart suggestions on filling available screen space with other open apps.

 4. Multiple desktops, new task view

With Windows 10, users can create virtual desktops for different purposes and projects and switch between desktops and pick up where they left on each desktop, similar to OS X's Spaces.

There is a new task view that displays all open windows and desktops. This is also very similar to the Expose feature of Apple's OS X.

 5. One Windows version across devices, Continuum

Windows 10 will run on all devices across form factors, including phones, tablets, 2-in-1s and PCs.

The OS will come with a feature called Continuum which will detect when you remove a keyboard from a 2-in-1 and switch to a touch-optimised UI with big tiles. It will also have a universal app marketplace.

 6. Enterprise features

Windows 10 will come with a number of features for enterprise, including a customised store and corporate data protection. Administrators will be able to use Mobile Device Management for all devices

7. Universal search

The Windows 10 Start menu will also feature a universal search box similar to Apple OS X's Spotlight feature and offers web results in addition to results obtained by searching across files, apps and settings.

 8. Updated command prompt

Microsoft has pleased power users with some improvements in the command prompt interface. The command prompt now supports copy and paste keyboard shortcuts so you'll be able to use Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V commands easily.

 

Online games can help reduce scientific frauds: Study

WASHINGTON: Online video games and remote experiments can combat the rising level of errors and fraud in life sciences research, says a new study co-authored by an Indian-origin researcher.

"Online game-like approach are more scientifically rigorous than the standard practice of scientists proposing an explanation for some phenomenon and then testing that hypothesis through experimentation," explained Rhiju Das, assistant professor of biochemistry from the Stanford University.

"Massive online laboratories today use videogames to engage large numbers of non-professional investigators and prevent scientists from manually testing their own hypotheses," Das noted.

Reporting on the success of their own online lab, Das and assistant professor Adrien Treuille from Carnegie Mellon University wrote about a RNA-design project called EteRNA, which has produced unprecedented design insights that have advanced knowledge of RNA (ribonucleic acid).

"We registered more than 150,000 participants who contributed in excess of two million human-hours to EteRNA. That means there were a lot of eyes, a lot of people looking over each other's shoulders as hypotheses were developed and experimental results evaluated. Everything is out in the open," Treuille explained.

If you strip the game part, projects such as EteRNA present a fundamentally new model of remote science that can prevent many common forms of scientific fraud, Das commented.

Online participants use computer design tools to propose RNA designs that meet certain criteria.

The designs are then synthesized in the Stanford lab of Das.

The results are made available to the entire EteRNA community for analysis and use in future design challenges.

The transparency makes it difficult for any individual to retrospectively adjust scientific hypotheses to match experimental results, or to cherry-pick data to reflect a scientist's biases.

The paper was published in the journal Trends in Biochemical Sciences.

6 things shoppers can learn from the Flipkart sale

It was pegged as the mother of all sales, and it had the shoppers salivating. But when the D-day arrived, there was a barrage of consumer criticism that dwarfed the scale of the sale itself. The complaint: most of the shoppers failed to get the goodies.

Of the one billion who visited Flipkart, 998.5 million came back empty-handed. If you too were among those disappointed, here are some pointers that can help you prepare better the next time you want to binge on such a sale.

 

1. Advertised discounts may not be yours

 Though many buyers managed to buy things at fabulous discounts, thousands of miffed customers discovered that their orders had not been executed. The fact is that there are too many people jostling for the same goods.

According to Flipkart, it received a billion hits, while the number of people who actually managed to get their hands on the stuff was just 1.5 million. In other words, one in every 600 visitors to the site managed to shop. So, remember that you may not be able to get the advertised discount.

You may be well-prepared with all your payment details at hand, but you can never be sure that you will get the things you want at the discounted price. Take the case of the Xiaomi phones launched a few weeks ago. At times, they were gone in less than 3 seconds.

When there are millions of people competing against you, keep in mind that the probability of you making a purchase is bound to be extremely low.

2. Save time by registering and using wallets

Most of the people who got their hands on the discounted products were mission-ready at 8am on Monday — the moment the sale began. If you were among them and still missed out, chances are you did not have a registered account with the e-tailer or didn't have a registered payment account (Flipkart Wallet).

While you were entering your credit/debit card details, those with registered accounts were pressing on the buy button.

If you want to grab future offers, having a Wallet, which you can top up beforehand, can speed up your checkout process. Also, browse the site beforehand, pick out the items that you are really keen on, and place them on a separate 'wishlist' that the site lets you create.

In this manner, you can access your top picks quickly and easily, and check whether they are being offered at a high discount.

 

3. The deal on offer may not be the best

Cancelled orders were not the only reason buyers were unhappy with Flipkart. Many customers bought goods on Flipkart only to learn later that rival e-tailers, Snapdeal and Amazon, were offering them at higher discounts. For instance, a MacBook Air that was being sold on Flipkart for Rs 54,000 was priced at Rs 50,000 on Snapdeal.

It is customary for rival platforms to come up with their own deals when a peer announces a sale. So, the next time there is such a sale and if you have set your eyes on a specific product, compare its price on other platforms before you click on 'buy'.

If you have accounts with several e-tailers, comparing prices and purchasing the cheaper item becomes easier.

 

4. Refunds or exchange? Not during a sale

 

Most sales, whether offline or online, have rules that are different from those that apply to normal purchases. Television advertisements by online retailers say that returning a product is very easy.

However, this is not true if you have purchased it during a sale. If you have second thoughts about a purchase, you won't get a refund or even be allowed to exchange the product (unless it is faulty). Many people who were able to get their hands on heavily discounted products during the Flipkart sale, and later wanted to exchange them, could not do so.

So, learn to rein in impulse buying during such sales since you cannot cancel the order and can't get store credit. All these stipulations were clearly specified in the terms and conditions on Flipkart's website. So, next time, go through these carefully before you click on 'accept'.

 

5. Try to use 'Cash on Delivery' option

If cancelled orders weren't bad enough, spare a thought for buyers who may still be waiting for their refunds. Online retailers are very prompt, but refunds can still take up to 1-2 days to reflect in your account. This can be quite a bother, especially if you have been denied the discount.

To avoid this, choose the cash on delivery (COD) option. Even if you don't get the goods you order, at least you won't have to lock your money away

 

6. Don't lose sight of other promotion

 

Often, there are exclusive launches on the day of the sale. In the inevitable rush to benefit from the discounts on offer, customers tend to miss out on these launches. For instance, Huawei launched its Honor 6 mobile phone exclusively on Flipkart on 6 October.

Now, perhaps, in a bid to cash in on the discounted first-generation Moto X offering, you missed out on a phone that could have otherwise been your preferred choice. Now, however, it's too late since you cannot exchange it.

Therefore, it's important that you watch out for big launches during a sale. You might get more value from the new product than from a discounted offering.

 

 

 

A software that detects emotions based on your typing style

 DHAKA: Researchers have developed a new computer programme that can recognize people's emotions based on how they type.

Scientists from the Islamic University of Technology in Bangladesh asked a small group of people to type a block of sample text, and then analysed the keystrokes and characteristics to see if they could identify any of seven different emotional states: joy, fear, anger, sadness, disgust, shame or guilt.

The emotions that the programme recognised with the greatest degree of accuracy were joy (87% of the time) and anger (81% of the time), 'LiveScience' reported.

"If we could build any system that is intelligent enough to interact with humans that involves emotions — that is, it can detect user emotions and change its behaviour accordingly — then using machines could be more effective and friendly," the researchers said.

In the first part of the study, 25 people, ages 15 to 40, retyped two paragraphs from Lewis Carroll's famous novel "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland," and picked one of the emotions that they felt while they were typing: joy, fear, anger, sadness, disgust, shame, guilt, feeling neutral or tired.

The last two options were added in case an individual did not identify with any of the original options.

In the second part of the study, the researchers used software that collected text samples from users, who were prompted every 30 minutes to enter their mental state, choosing from the following possibilities: joy, fear, anger, sadness, disgust, shame, guilt or none of the above.

In this part of the experiment, the text that the users typed did not come from a particular source assigned to them, but was collected during their regular computer use.

The researchers used a special type of software that ran in the background to record all keys pressed by the users as well as the users' press and release times.

The researchers then extracted 19 keystroke attributes from the collected data. Some of the attributes included typing speed in 5 second intervals and the time elapsed between when a particular key was pressed and released.

To analyse the sample texts, the investigators used a standard database of words and sentences that were associated with the seven different emotional states.

The study was published in the journal Behavior & Information Technology.