Github, Vimeo released but 28 websites still blocked; CERT-In director elaborates on the reason behind blocks

Github, Vimeo released but 28 websites still blocked; CERT-In director elaborates on the reason behind blocks

We learned about the Department of Telecommunication’s (DoT) decision to block 32 websites last night. Apart from tweets from the head of BJP’s national IT cell, Arvind Gupta, there wasn’t any clear indication as to why these sites were blocked. But in a report in The Times of India, Gulshan Rai, the director India’s Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) has elaborated on the matter. He has said that the directions to block the said 32 websites were issued to the ISPs following the directions of a Mumbai additional chief metropolitan magistrate’s November order.

Rai added that Mumbai’s Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) approached the judiciary after interrogating Arif Majeed, a young ISIS recruit from Kalyan who returned to India. Another professional from Bengaluru, Mehdi Biswas was arrested for allegedly tweeting out ISIS propoganda on Twitter.

According to Rai, the 32 websites in the list of blocked sites were used to spread ISIS propoganda and used to hire youths to join ISIS. CERT-In had contacted the websites in the past to remove objectionable content, but these sites ignored the government’s requests. Rai stated that some of these sites which have been unblocked have agreed to work with the government.

When asked about blocking the URLs having the objectionable content rather than blanket-blocking of entire websites, Rai said that individual URLs could not be blocked as the content could easily be removed, copied and pasted elsewhere. This still dosen’t answer the question, what is stopping the so-called propogandists from still going ahead and pasting the removed content elsewhere?

Blocking of sites such as Vimeo and Dailymotion, which are video hosting sites similar to YouTube and GitHub, which is a platform for software developers to share code irritated regular users no end. Hacktivist group Anonymous India tweeted as follows.

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Unknown 09:25  No comment

Tesla Engineers Are Developing "Solid Metal Snake" Car Chargers

Elon Musk's got lots of crazy ideas and has millions of dollars for bringing them to reality. What's more awesome is that he's been able to build a solid team of engineers that make things for the future. Musk's tweeted that his engineers are actually working on the charger from 22nd century - a solid metal snake like charger that will detect when the car's around and move out of the wall to automatically connect to the charging port on the car. The new charging system will work with the current Model S variants and all the upcoming cars from Tesla Motors.

Musk isn't providing any more details about the system as of now, but in the video embedded below (especially 9:15 sec+) from the P85D event, he hints at possibility of such a system. Of course it's very uncool to manually connect the charger to the charging port of your car; especially if you are a Tesla owner. 

We let our creative juices flow to imagine how'd feel like to use the system. Also wouldn't it be great if the system's adopted for chargers for our gadgets? Think of it: You place your phone on the table and the USB that runs from your laptop or desktop automatically connects to the phone and begins charging it! Do let us know your thoughts via comments below.

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Unknown 09:23  No comment

Frog gives birth to tadpoles as a first in the scientific world

Frog gives birth to tadpoles as a first in the scientific world

LONDON: For the first time ever, scientists have found a frog that gave birth to tadpoles. 

Nearly all the world's 6,000 frog species lay eggs but new born tadpoles are a first in the scientific world. 

An international team of researchers followed this unique species of fanged frogs from the Sulawesi Island in Indonesia for over a decade. 

On Thursday, they announced the first ever evidence confirming external fertilisation in frogs - the female lays eggs during mating while the male releases sperm to fertilise them. 

University of California, Berkeley, herpetologist Jim McGuire was slogging through the rain forests of Indonesia's Sulawesi Island one night this year when he grabbed what he thought was a male frog and found himself juggling not only a frog but also dozens of slippery, newborn tadpoles. 

He had found what he was looking for: direct proof that the female of a new species of frog does what no other frog does. 

It gives birth to live tadpoles instead of laying eggs. 

A member of the Asian group of fanged frogs, the new species was discovered a few decades ago by Indonesian researcher Djoko Iskandar, McGuire's colleague, and was thought to give direct birth to tadpoles, though the frog's mating and an actual birth had never been observed before. 

"Almost all frogs in the world have external fertilization where the male grips the female in amplexus and releases sperm as the eggs are released by the female," McGuire said. "But there are lots of weird modifications to this standard mode of mating. This new frog is one of only 10 or 12 species that has evolved internal fertilization, and of those, it is the only one that gives birth to tadpoles as opposed to froglets or laying fertilized eggs." 

Frogs have evolved an amazing variety of reproductive methods, says McGuire. 

Most male frogs fertilize eggs after the female lays them. 

Fanged frogs - so-called because of two fang-like projections from the lower jaw that are used in fighting - may have evolved into as many as 25 species on Sulawesi. 

The new species seems to prefer to give birth to tadpoles in small pools or seeps located away from streams, possibly to avoid the heftier fanged frogs hanging out around the stream. There is some evidence the males may also guard the tadpoles. 

McGuire first encountered the newly described frog in 1998, the year he began studying the amazing diversity of reptiles and amphibians on Sulawesi, an Indonesian island east of Borneo and south of the Philippines.

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Unknown 09:21  No comment