IntellectBeat

For the first time in 10 years, Mercury passed directly between the Earth and sun, resembling a black dot against the vast, glowing face of our star. Many stargazers turned to the Internet as NASA provided close-to-real-time images of the 7½-hour trek, courtesy of the Solar Dynamics Observatory. The planet Mercury is seen in silhouette, lower left, as it transits across the face of the sun Monday, May 9, 2016. (Image: Bill Ingalls/NASA via AP) Although the solar system's small, innermost planet appeared to be trudging along, it actually was zooming past the sun at 170,000 kmph. The cosmic show began at 4.43 PM and lasted till 7.01 PM IST on Monday. A transit of Mercury occurs only about 13 times a century. The next transit of Mercury won't occur until 2019. Then it won't happen again until 2032. This composite image of observations by NASA and the ESA's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory shows the path of Mercury during its November 2006 transit. (Image: Solar a...

The first Thursday of May is observed as World Password Day. This year it falls on May 5. The day is a a global celebration to promote better password habits. Passwords are the critical gatekeepers to our digital existence and it is very important to make sure your passwords are strong. Here are seven ways to fortify your passwords: The recommended minimum is eight characters, but 14 is better and 25 is even better than that. Some services have character limits on passwords, though. Use combinations of letters and numbers, upper and lower case and symbols such as the exclamation mark. Some services won't let you do all of that, but try to vary it as much as you can. "PaSsWoRd!43" is far better than "password43." Avoid words that are in dictionaries, even if you add numbers and symbols. There are programs that can crack passwords by going through databases of known words. One trick is to add numbers in the middle of a word - as in "pas123swor456d...

The theremin is widely regarded as  the world's first  electronic musical instrument. It is also a touchless instrument, which means that it is played without actually touching any part of the instrument. It is still used by many musicians. Film scores of the 1940s and 1950s used the instrument to eerie effect and it makes a famous appearance in the chorus of the Beach Boys hit Good Vibrations . Invented in 1920 in the then Soviet Union, the theremin is also called thereminvox, or etherophone and is named after its inventor Professor Leon Theremin (also called Lev Termen). The theremin is an electronic box of radio tubes with two long antennae. To produce music the musician moves her hand or baton around the antenae without touching them. The right hand's proximity to one antenna controls the pitch of the sound and the left hand's proximity to the other antenna controls the volume. On March 9, 2016, Google had posted an  interactive playable doodle  on theremi...

At this stage, it feels like the browser wars have been fought and won. Most of you probably use  Chrome  or  Firefox , and a sad few of you may even use Internet Explorer. But there’s a new browser in town, and it actually has some features worth sitting up and take notice of.  Vivaldi  has been around for more than a year in the alpha and beta stages, but it recently hit the version 1.0 milestone. Founded by ex-Opera chief Jon von Tetzchner, it’s squarely aimed at power users, meaning its loaded with extra features for browsing pros. It’s available for Windows, Mac and Linux too. Here are five reasons we prefer Vivaldi over any other browser. 1) Tab Stacking We’ve all been stuck in browser tab hell before: That moment when you’ve opened way too many tabs up in your browser, and you can’t find that one website you were just looking at. Vivaldi has a great feature called Tab Stacking that tries to prevent that from happening. Tab Stacking lets you create ‘...

Here’s a list of phones which are first-of-their-kind. From feature phones to smartphones, flat screen to curved, fragile to shatterproof, mobile phones have evolved over the years. Although many industry analysts would like to call the current level of innovation reaching a stagnation point, there still are some manufacturers which have been able to surprise consumers by truly packing something different in their smartphones. We have compiled a list of phones which offer first-of-its-kind features, and they are not merely concepts. 1. Motorola X force - Shatterproof display Display today is the most vulnerable yet the most neglected element in modern smartphones. But Motorola finally paid heed to the fragile screen with the launch of the the Motorola X Force – the world’s first smartphone with a shatterproof display. The phone uses the Moto ShatterShield display technology, which is said to be an integrated system consisting of five layers designed from material...

Google has released an updated preview version of Android N for members of the Android Beta program, boosting stability and adding new features. The firm is expected to outline the final version of its new mobile operating system at the Google I/0 conference, May 18-20, 2016. In the meantime, here's a look at some of the new features already on the agenda. 1.  One key innovation in Android N is the picture-in-picture function for using two applications simultaneously, open side by side (tablet) or one over the other (smartphone). This mode is even more eagerly awaited since it already features in third-party interfaces for Google's OS -- like those made by Samsung and LG -- as well as in competitor platforms iOS and Windows. 2.  Other new features include revamped notifications, promising a faster and easier-to-use system no matter what applications are open. Launcher shortcuts also let users create custom shortcuts to specific features in certain applications. This could,...

You may be making the most of your Android phone, but there is much more within your easy reach that can help you make your smartphone experience even better. And this doesn’t require you to put in much effort or install additional apps (in most cases). It only needs bringing to light some useful features sitting deep inside your Android device. While some of you may be already aware of these tools, there may be many for whom this could be a revelation. These features are easy to use and can be enabled with just a few taps. If you have more to add to this list, tell us in the comments below. 1. Pin any screen: This not-so-popular feature makes it easier for a user to pass around the phone to people in a group or share it with kids at home without the fear of losing any data or misuse. For instance, you are sitting in a cafe with a bunch of friends and want to show them a video or a photo or for that matter, anything on your phone. While it’s easier for those sitting clos...

Google nexus 5x.( Swipbuzzy ) Google has finally launched its  Google Nexus 5X  smartphone made by LG alongside  Google Nexus 6P  smartphone. It succeeds the Google Nexus 5 smartphone which was launched last year. As for specifications, it is powered by a 64-bit hexa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 paired with Adreno 418 GPU and 2GB of RAM. The device features a 5.2-inch full HD display with resolution of 1920×1080 pixels and pixel density of 424ppi. The screen is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 3. It runs Android 6.0 Marshmallow operating system. On camera front, it sports a 12.3 mega pixel rear camera with dual LED flash, laser assisted auto-focus and f/2.0 aperture. It supports 4K video recording and slow motion video recording at 120fps. There is also a 5 mega pixel front facing camera onboard with f/2.2 aperture. Backed up by a 2700mAh battery, it offers 4G LTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC and USB Type-C p...