Category Techniques

What is the difference between a code and a cipher?

Codes and ciphers are different ways of encrypting a message to ensure secrecy and security. How do they work?

Codes and ciphers are both techniques used to transform messages into a seemingly illegible form so that only selected people can understand them. thereby ensuring secrecy and security

A cipher is a more basic form of encryption. It involves the rearrangement or substitution of the letters of the alphabet in the message. On the other hand, the code works on a higher level of encryption. It replaces entire words or phrases with secret words or numbers.

Consider a simple message: ‘The ship has left the port.’

Now, if each letter is replaced by a number, for example.

 A=1, B-2, C-3 and so on, the message will become

20-8-5  19-8-9-16  8-1-19  12-5-6-20  20-8-5  16-15-18-20. This is a cipher.

Now, if the ship' is replaced by the word Alpha' and the phrase 'has left the port’ by the number '1', then the code would be 'Alpha 1'.

Picture Credit : Google 

What is meaning of term ‘Painting with words’?

The technical advancement in Artificial intelligence or Al has helped recognise CT scans for doctors, predict oil deposits for engineers, and create and regulate algorithms among other things. But can Al generate art?

Creating art takes a unique combination of skills, creativity and the very human element of aesthetic taste. In April 2022, OpenAl, an artificial intelligence (AI) research laboratory, came up with a text-to-image generator that can draw anything you want virtually. This has been done before but the difference here is that the fleshed-out painting or images created by this system replicated the aesthetic design and taste of a real artist. This new Al system is called Dall-E 2 and is capable of turning any text description into a unique work of art. This is an updated system of Dall-E which was released by the company last year. The high-quality and high-resolution images generated by Dall- E 2 are completed within 10 seconds after one enters the prompts and also feature complex backgrounds, realistic depth, and shadow effects, shading and reflections. This free-for-all Al-powered software has made art more accessible, giving everyone a platform to create pictures with words without having to actually execute them with paint, cameras, or code.

Picture Credit : Google 

How to do Safety check in Google Chrome?

Chrome comes with a built-in tool to check for enhanced protection. Head over to Chrome Settings, and click on the Safety Check button on the left sidebar. Alternatively, you can go to chrome://settings/safetyCheck to access the safety check page directly. The Safety Check tool will then verify that Chrome is up-to-date, cross-check whether all your stored passwords are complex and not leaked in any data breaches, and confirm that Safe Browsing is set up properly. It will even check if you are protected from any potentially malicious extensions. Run it once in a while.

With this check Chrome will check all your stored passwords are complex and not leaked in the previous data breaches. In order to do this check, you have to login with your Google account. It helps Google to send the passwords in encrypted manner and check the database to match if the password is in the previous data breaches.

The result of the safe browsing section depends on the level of protection you have enabled on your browser. By default, Chrome will use the standard protection and hence you will see a message like “Standard protection is on. For even more security, use enhanced protection.”

 

Picture Credit : Google

What is deepfake app?

Deepfake generally refers to images on videos in which the face and/or voice of a person, usually a public figure has been manipulated using artificial intelligence software to generate visual and audio content with a high potential to deceive. Deepfakes are a source of concern because they are created to be intentionally misleading, such as by making it look like a politician said something they didn’t, or making it appear like a celebrity was in a video they weren’t in.

Everyone from academic and industrial researchers to amateur enthusiasts, visual effects studios and porn producers. Governments might be dabbling in the technology, too, as part of their online strategies to discredit and disrupt extremist groups, or make contact with targeted individuals, for example.

It is hard to make a good deepfake on a standard computer. Most are created on high-end desktops with powerful graphics cards or better still with computing power in the cloud. This reduces the processing time from days and weeks to hours. But it takes expertise, too, not least to touch up completed videos to reduce flicker and other visual defects. That said, plenty of tools are now available to help people make deepfakes. Several companies will make them for you and do all the processing in the cloud. There’s even a mobile phone app, Zao, that lets users add their faces to a list of TV and movie characters on which the system has trained.

 

Picture Credit : Google

What is special in Orixo game?

Orixo is a relaxing, minimalist brain game with over 320 hand-crafted levels to help sharpen your mind. A melodic soundtrack accompanies you on the levels, all of which are free to play and vary in difficulty. Fill the grid by dragging your finger over cells with a number inside of it. The number represents the number of cells it will fill in one of four directions. The direction you choose counts. Orixo saves your game progress automatically and hints are available in case you get stuck on any level. A simple game to play for a few minutes to take a breather from your busy life. Free for iOS and Android.

The organization of ideas and things are both important to this game. The player has to be able to think through and organize which number should be swiped first, second, etc. They also need to organize the placement, or direction, of the swipe. If they don’t take the time to organize both aspects of this game, they will be unable to complete a level and unlock new ones.

 

Picture Credit : Google

WOWcube reimagines the Rubik’s Cube for a next-gen gaming console

The WOWcube, a new twist on the beloved Rubik’s Cube, is the brainchild of 13-year-old DIY YouTuber, Savva Osipov. “What if we place characters and gameplay on Rubik’s Cube surface and control the game by twisting, tilting and shaking,” he thought. Together with his father, inventor Ilya, they came up with the WOWcube. The device comes with tiny, high-res microdisplays built into each of the cube’s 24 square-shaped segments, and eight processors and an accelerometer on the inside. As with a Rubik’s Cube, users can twist, flip, turn, and rotate elements along multiples axes, constantly changing how the screens align with one another, all accompanied by satisfying clicks. Its accompanying iOS/Android app allows users to load a number of games, including word games, puzzles, mazes and arcade-style games, into the device via Bluetooth. It runs on an open-source API (application programming interface) that enables youngsters with computer skills and developers to design their own games for the WOWcube. Place the device onto its charging base and the cube’s individual screens become functional widgets, displaying the date, time, weather, social media, notifications, news and more. The STEM-learning certified device measures 2.8 inches on each side and weighs 335 gms. Its integrated 4,320 mAh lithium-ion battery runs for upto eight hours on a single charge.

 

Picture Credit : Google