Google employee saves 90% of his income by staying in a company parking lot.

This 23-year-old Google employee lives in a truck and saves 90% of his income.

Imagine working at Google and living in a 128 square foot truck to save money. Saving 90 percent of salary he earns from Google, 23-year-old Brandon S. lives in a 128 square foot truck parked in Google premises.

When Brandon headed from Massachusetts to the Bay Area in mid-May to start work he thought he would have to pay exorbitant rent for settling into an overpriced San Francisco apartment. Instead why not live in a truck.

The idea started to formulate while Brandon was interning at Google last summer and living in the cheapest corporate housing offered: two bedrooms and four people for about $65 a night (roughly $2,000 a month), he explains to Business Insider.

“I realized I was paying an exorbitant amount of money for the apartment I was staying in – and I was almost never home,” he says. “It’s really hard to justify throwing that kind of money away. You’re essentially burning it – you’re not putting equity in anything and you’re not building it up for a future – and that was really hard for me to reconcile.”

He started planning for living out of a truck immediately, as he knew he’d be returning to work full-time in San Francisco. A school-year later, purchased a 16-foot 2006 Ford with 157,000 miles on it for $10,000. He says that he was able to pay the previous truck owner upfront with his signing bonus.

His projected “break-even point” is October 21, according to the live-updating “savings clock” he created on his blog, “Thoughts from Inside the Box.”

His one fixed cost is truck insurance — $121 a month — as he doesn’t use electricity, and his phone bill is handled by Google.

“I don’t actually own anything that needs to be plugged in,” he explains on his blog. “The truck has a few built-in overhead lights, and I have a motion-sensitive, battery-powered lamp I use at night. I have a small battery pack that I charge up at work every few days, and I use that to charge my headphones and cell phone at night. My work laptop will last the night on a charge, and then I charge it at work.”

The space is sparse and minimal, he says: “The main things that I have are a bed, a dresser, and I built a coat rack to hang up my clothes. Besides that, and a few stuffed animals, there’s pretty much nothing in there.”

His expenses for living in a truck are minimal. He has to pay one fixed expense,truck insurance @ $121 a month — as he doesn’t use electricity, and his phone bill is handled by Google.

“I don’t actually own anything that needs to be plugged in,” he explains on his blog. “The truck has a few built-in overhead lights, and I have a motion-sensitive, battery-powered lamp I use at night. I have a small battery pack that I charge up at work every few days, and I use that to charge my headphones and cell phone at night. My work laptop will last the night on a charge, and then I charge it at work.”

The space is sparse and minimal, he says: “The main things that I have are a bed, a dresser, and I built a coat rack to hang up my clothes. Besides that, and a few stuffed animals, there’s pretty much nothing in there.”

As for food and showers, that’s all on Google’s campus. He eats breakfast, lunch, and dinner at work, and showers every morning in the corporate gym post-workout.

So few expenses means significant savings: “I’m going for a target of saving about 90% of my after-tax income, and throwing that in student loans and investments,” he says.

10 Inventions That Make Nikola Tesla One Of The Greatest Scientists Of All Time.

Nikola Tesla, who is regarded as of the greatest scientists of all times, has gifted the world in every possible way in terms of electricity, light, radio, transmitter and even x-rays. He has made more than 700 inventions and had over 100 patents in his lifetime.

Nikola Tesla, who is one of the greatest scientists of all time obtained more than 100 patents in his lifetime. Despite his 700 inventions, Tesla was not wealthy. He worked in his room for many years, at the Hotel New Yorker, where he died.

Take a quick look at some of this greatest inventions:

 

1. Alternating Current:

Alternating current wasn’t invested by Tesla. However, his outstanding contribution in making its usage simple shall always make it one of his greatest inventions. Tesla, who worked for Edison at that time pointed out the flaws and inefficiency of Edison’s direct current electrical powerhouses.

DC current flows continuously in a direction, where as alternating current be stepped up to very high voltage levels as it changes its direction 50-60 times per second, thus minimizing power loss across great distances. Even after the much bitterness between Edison and Tesla regarding the AC vs DC war, ultimately, Nikola Tesla developed polyphase alternating current system of generators, motors and transformers and held 40 basic U.S. Patents on the system. This was bought by George Westinghouse, which marked the nationwide and thereafter, worldwide usage of electricity.

2. The Tesla Turbine:

In the early 20th century, which was primarily the era of piston engine in automobiles, Tesla invented his own engine in turbine style, which was bladeless  and used made use of smooth discs that spun in a chamber. The fuel efficiency of his engine was 60% (which was a great achievement at that time as the current fuel efficiency level we are at is 42%).

3. The Tesla Coil

The Tesla Coil is another of his greatest inventions. It is a high-frequency air-core transformer which takes the output from a 120vAC to several kilovolt transformer & driver circuit and steps it up to an extremely high voltage (above 1,000,000 volts) and are discharged in the form of electrical arcs. Tesla coils create extremely powerful electrical fields, which define their uniqueness.

4. & 5. Radio And Remote Control

Tesla patented a radio controlled robot-boat which was used to control radio waves  in the Electrical Exhibition in 1898. Tesla’s robot-boat was constructed with an antenna, transmitted the radio waves which were again received by coherer.

This transmitted the radio waves into mechanical movements of the propellers on the boat. Thus, the boat directions could be manually operated.

6. Magnifying Transmitter

Tesla built the largest and most powerful Tesla Coil, called The Magnifying Transmitter. This had three coils and was 52 feet in diameter. What made it the biggest lightning at that time was the fact that it generated electricity of the order of millions of volts and shot lightning bolts (approximately 130 feet long).

7. Neon Lamp

Tesla created the first neon signs at the World’s Fair by taking glass tubes and bending them into famous scientists’ names, in effect creating the first neon signs. Also, he converted black light into visible light using a phosphorescent substance (which was created by him).

8. Shadowgraph

Tesla obtained images of a human body which he called shadowgraph. Also, Tesla experimented with reflected x-rays and described features of transmitted and reflected rays.

Besides, explaining changes in x-ray characteristics as being caused by variations in x-ray tubes and electrical generators, Tesla also realized the biological hazards of working with unipolar x-ray tubes.

9. Adams Power Plant Transformer House

Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse built the first hydro-electric power plant in  Niagara Falls 1895, thereby ensuring the beginning of electrification of the world.

10. Induction Motor

Nikola Tesla invented the induction motor with rotating magnetic field that made unit drives for machines feasible. What’s more is that he made AC power transmission an economic necessity.

Despite being a genius, Tesla was not wealthy, some of his inventions never got recognised. What are your views on it? Tell us in the comments below.

HTC Makes Its Own iPhone 6 That Runs on Android Marshmallow.

Stung by the previous failure, HTC is back with a new phone which is the first non-Nexus phone to run Android Marshmallow. However, the phone looks like a complete ripoff of iPhone 6. Know more about it here.

i‘ve always been a fan of the innovative metallic design of HTC phones. However, the HTC One M9 introduced earlier this year was a bit disappointment and I wished to see some change in their design vision.

Well, who knew the change I was expecting was just around the corner and this much drastic! The Taiwanese company today revealed its 2nd hero smartphone of the year as HTC One A9, running on Android Marshmallow. It’s the most obvious and high-profile ripoff of iPhone 6 we’ve seen till now.

So, HTC made a iPhone 6 for itself in the form of HTC A9. Does the name sound somewhat familiar? Yes, the A9 chipset in the new iPhone 6s, obviously.

The HTC One A9 costs just $399 unlocked, half the price of an iPhone, with an all-aluminum body with round edges- just like an iPhone.

And, where are my front-facing BoomSound stereo speakers?

Fighting the criticism, HTC says that HTC One A9 is the amalgamation of its two existing phones – the One M9 and the Desire 816. If you take a moment to look at these phones and combine their looks, you’ll understand what HTC is trying to say.

Well, does it matter to the average person why “this” phone looks “that” way? No, it doesn’t.

HTC One A9 is the first non-Nexus phone that will be running Android Marshmallow. It does look very attractive and the smooth glass-covered front panel feels very nice with its machined back.

It’ll be interesting to see how long the struggle of HTC continues. What do you think? Tell us in the comments below.

“You Can Hack a Computer Just by Looking at It” – HP Explains Visual Hacking.

Visual Hacking is a security threat that is often overlooked by us. This is the act of stealing information by simple observation and it’s success rates are as high as 90%. Read more to know everything about it.

 

Visual Hacking is a relatively new term that you need to add in your jargon. When I’ll tell you its meaning, you’d even refuse to accept that it’s some kind of “hacking.” But, as the security threats are increasing, visual hacking is becoming a terrifying issue and we need to take some basic steps for an effective security.According to the genius minds at HP security division, if someone is able to read what’s on your screen and it’s not intended for that person, it falls in the category of “visual hacking”. After stealing some information by visual means, the act of owning someone’s digital life becomes much easier.

 

“With more and more PCs being used in public places, visual hacking — the act of collecting confidential information by looking at someone else’s screen — is a paramount security risk in today’s business environment,” says an HP executive.

In today’s busy and competitive world, laptop users are not aware of the fact who is looking over their shoulders. This is a way to gather credentials by observation and thus visual hacking becomes a greater threat. As shown in a recent research conducted by HP and 3M, about 90% of the attempts to steal business information was successful using visual hacking methods. The stolen data included employee login and access passwords, contact lists, consumer data, financial information etc.

To curb this menace, HP has partnered with 3M to deliver the solutions that protect the privacy of a user and improve the security measures by protecting the secrets of a billion-dollar company. The company has launched a collaboration to incorporate 3M privacy screens in the HP’s notebooks that are more focused on security.

HP and 3M have announced the use of a “screen darkening technology that protects your screen from prying eyes on either side.” Basically, it’s a dark plastic that restricts the viewing angle.

This highly successful visual hacking method is a security aspect that goes unnoticed a number of times. But, as mentioned above, its success rate increases the security threats to an alarming level.

In the future, we hope that visual hacking would be taken more seriously as a security threat and all the device manufacturers will employ effective solutions to curb it.

Have something to add? Please tell us in the comments below.

How to Find Your Lost or Stolen Laptop?

Having your laptop stolen is the biggest nightmare anyone can face in the era of our gadget-centric lives. Here are some ways that can help you get back your valuable laptop in case of any theft.

Electronic devices, especially laptops, have become an essential part of our lives rather than a luxury product, that they were considered in the past. Only a mere thought of losing your precious device will give you goose bumps, but what if it really vanishes from your vicinity – thanks to the guy who has the courage to do that magical act.

Jokes apart, in this article we have added some ways that can be used to find your stolen laptop in case of any theft.

Trace your Laptop’s IP address:

The magician who vanished your precious laptop might have the courage to peek into your business. There are great chances, that the person who took your laptop may check your mail account or other services. These services do provide tracking feature that can help you, trace the location and IP address of your device. You can get the device location of your stolen laptop if you use these services:

Gmail:

Just open your Gmail account and move to the bottom of the page. Here you will find “Last Account Activity” written in the bottom left corner of the page. Click “Details” link right below it. A new window will open containing a list of all the recent Gmail sessions of your account, providing IP address and location of the sessions. You can click “Sign Out Of All Other Web Sessions” to protect your Gmail account from further trespassing.

Facebook:

The social networking giant has also provided a feature to track your account activity.

Open “Settings” in your Facebook account and then click “Security” option. You’ll find an option called “Where You’re Logged In”, just click that, and you’ll be presented with details of your Facebook sessions. To know the IP address of any session, just hover on the location name, and it will display the IP address of that session. You can click “End Activity” to log out that particular session or you can click “End All Activity” to log out of all your active Facebook session on any other device.

Dropbox:

Dropbox also provides a session tracking feature. Just sign-in to you Dropbox account and click your name, a drop down menu will appear. Then click on “Settings” option. Click on Security tab, here you’ll find the list of all your active and past sessions. Just hover on the “i” right next to the country name to know the approximate location and similarly, click the “i” next to time (under Most Recent Activity) to know the IP address and time of the session.

Just note down the IP address and location from any of the above sources and contact the police for further assistance.

Prevention is better than cure:

It would be wise enough to be well prepared for such mishaps well in advance. Prey Inc. has come up with an efficient tool that can help you track your device very easily in case of any theft or lost. Though this platform is available for various operating systems like Windows, Mac, Android, and Linux, but we have tested Prey only for the Widows OS.

Here are the steps you need to follow in order to setup Prey:

1. Go to https://preyproject.com
2. Click Sign-in and setup your Prey account.
3. After that, Sign-in to your Prey account and look for a green plus button right next to Your Devices.
4. Choose your preferred operating system and Prey will start downloading the appropriate application to your device.
   
   
5. Install the application by clicking the usual next, next, next. It’ll take few minutes to install.
6. At the end of installation, keep the Set-up Prey check box ticked and click Finish.
7. A new window will open. Click Existing User option, as you have already created your Prey account.
8. Enter your login credentials and click Connect, a popup will appear, ”Sweet! Your Computer is now protected by Prey. Try it out or protect an additional device, please visit preyproject.com”.
9. Click OK and you’re done.
10. You can track your device online by simply logging into your Prey account in any web browser.
11. If you lose your device, just log-in to your account and click your lost device in Your Devices section. Then click Set Device To Missing.
12. A box will appear, set the Report Frequency as per your convenience. Click Advanced Options to find more options. Here you can select, if you want to take snapshots of the person using the device via webcam. Using the snapshot feature may alert the person using the laptop as the webcam LED will blink after regular intervals, creating a suspicious environment for that person.
13. Click Yes, my device is missing. In the next box, you can set whether the device is LOST or STOLEN. You can also share the lost information with Prey Inc. in the next option.
14. Whenever you need to know the current status of your device just click the Maps and Action option in the device section.
15. When you find your device, just Set Device To Recovered and prey will stop the live tracking of your device.

Prey allows you to lock the device remotely, play alarm, send message in case any humble person may return your laptop, if you have forgotten it somewhere. The only disadvantage of this service is that your laptop must be connected to the internet, and for that, “May the Force be with You”. You can add up to three devices in the free option. To add more devices, you’ll have to purchase their plans.

In case of any theft, it is highly recommended to change your passwords for all the online services that you use to protect your valuable data and privacy.

Keeping your laptop safe is a must in this technology driven world. You can protect your laptop by using these simple methods and it will save your valuable memories that you have collected all over your life. Apart from using these methods, you should always set a password to all of your devices, this will protect your data in case of any theft or if you might forget it somewhere.

 

Tesla on Autopilot, Challenges Google Self-Driving Car Concept.

Tesla has released the Autopilot version 7.0 for its electric vehicles. It boasts of features that are years ahead from its rivals. The updated car would also scan for the parking space for you and alert in case of an impending collision in real time

Elon Musk has gone full throttle to make the Tesla Models as the complete car of the future. After getting famous for pioneering the EVs globally to reduce carbon emissions and procrastinate the climate change, Tesla is achieving other engineering feats as well.

Tesla Motors has just released its latest software update that will allow the Model S owners to lay back and enjoy while the car gets automatically driven. The Autopilot version 7.0 boasts of a unique camera combinations, radar, ultrasonic sensors and data which enable the Model S to automatically steer and change lanes. The updated car would also scan for the parking space for you and alert in case of an impending collision in real time.

The Tesla software system is different from its rivals as it forms a network with other cars. So, if anything happens to say Model S1 car, the Model S2 and all the other cars with the Autopilot software would learn from the incident and watch out for the similar incident then on. The data is uploaded to the central server, analyzed and sent back to other cars.

These self-learning features distinct Tesla Autopilot version 7.0 from other major autopilot car manufacturers like Audi, BMW and Google.

The new update also has high precision GPS navigation and the details are several times finer than the current standards. This eventually leads to better driving and a pleasant trip for the Tesla costumers.

For the owners who had already purchased the Autopilot update option at the time of buying the Model S, the software is free while it will cost $2,500 to the buyers who didn’t purchase their car with this option.

Now, after autopilot what’s left for Tesla is to build a flying car.

Have something to add? Tell us your views in the comments below.

How to Keep Your WhatsApp Data Safe With Google Drive and Encryption.

To keep your WhatsApp data safe and encrypted, WhatsApp has partnered with Google Drive. Take a look to know how to enable this lifesaver feature.

Losing all the precious WhatsApp pictures and videos is something that a good friend of mine faced recently. There are some simple ways to recover data from your external SD-card, but getting the same from your smartphone’s internal memory is a tough job.

Now, WhatsApp has brought a lifesaver functionality in its instant messaging app by joining hands with Google to keep your WhatsApp data safe. Now, losing your WhatsApp pictures, chats, videos and videos are a thing of past due to the newly-introduced integration of Google Drive with WhatsApp.

On its blog, Google announced a new partnership, that will let you create a private Google Drive backup of your chat history, voice messages, photos, and videos for the Android WhatsApp app.

As a result of this regular cloud backup, you can recover everything with just a touch. In the settings, you are given the option to decide the frequency of backup to keep your WhatsApp data safe: daily, weekly, monthly, or not at all.

This Google Drive backup comes with encryption feature, thus all your cloud data is encrypted and safe.

“Google Drive offers them a native, seamless and safe way to back up their multimedia in the cloud, with added security thanks to encryption“, says Brian Acton, Co-founder WhatsApp, about this new way to keep your WhatsApp data safe.

Here the method to create a Google Drive backup of your WhatsApp data. Depending upon the size and amount of your WhatsApp data, this process may take some time. Please be patient.

1. To keep your WhatsApp data safe, open WhatsApp on your Android phone.
2. Now go to Menu Button > Settings > Chats and calls > Chat backup.
3. Now tap on the  Back up to Google Drive option and select the desired backup frequency.
4. Here you’ll be asked to select a Google account that will be used to backup your chat.
5. Now tap on Back up over to choose the network that will be used for backup (WiFi or cellular data).

How to Restore WhatsApp Data Backup from Google Drive?

1. Add the same Google account to your device that you used to perform the backup.
2. Now uninstall and reinstall WhatsApp.
3. Just after the verification of your number, you will be asked to restore your backup from Google Drive.
4. Wait for some time, your chats and pictures will be automatically restored.

Note that this feature will be rolling out to WhatsApp users in the 2.12.303 version. If you don’t want to take the Play Store route, you can directly download latest WhatsApp 2.12.303 from the official website to keep your WhatsApp data safe

Did you find this how to keep your WhatsApp data safe article helpful? Tell us in the comments below.

How To Schedule A Shutdown For Windows OS.

This article describes the steps to schedule a Shutdown command for Windows OS. Take a look.

The very first task we learnt was to Turn ON and Shutdown Windows when we were kids, and sometimes we felt the need to shut down Windows after a specified time in case of an emergency or due to some other reason, but couldn’t find a way to do so.

In this article we’ve described a step-by-step process to schedule a shutdown command for Windows OS. This method has been tested on Windows 10 & Windows 7, hopefully it’ll work on other versions too.

It is recommended to read all the steps carefully before implementing them.

Here are steps:

1. Go to your Desktop.
2. Right click -> New -> Shortcut. A new window will open, asking the location for the shortcut.

3. Now, you need to recall your primary math concepts.
4. We have,

1 minute = 60 seconds

1 hour = 60 minutes*60 = 3600 seconds

5. After you’ve successfully recalled the conversion of minutes to seconds. Type, shutdown –s –t 60 in the text field below ‘Type the location of this item’.

6. The number 60 written in the above command stands for seconds, so type the number of seconds after which you want to schedule a shutdown. For example, we tested it to shut down after 1 minute (60), and it worked successfully.
7. Click Next, when you’re done typing the command.
8. In the next step, name the file Shutdown.exe. You can name it whatever you like, but don’t forget to add ‘.exe’ at the end of the file name.
9. Click Finish and you’re done.
10. Now, just double-click the Shutdown.exe file created on your desktop whenever you need to schedule a shutdown after a minute gap.

This is a one-time process and you don’t need to repeat it again. Just double-click ‘Shutdown.exe’ and leave the rest to your Windows PC.

If you feel the need to change the time limit, just delete the existing ‘Shutdown.exe’ and create a new one with a different time limit, following the above steps. You can keep the existing file also, just choose another name for the next file you create.

And it is solely your responsibility if anything goes wrong with your PC. No offense please, haha

We have more interesting stuff for you, stay tuned on Tech News Nation

Facebook Will Provide Free Internet From Space, Starting from Africa in 2016.

In another step to boost its Internet.org initiative, Facebook has joined hands with Eutelsat to deliver the free internet from space using satellites. This free satellite internet service will be rolling out from late 2016 in Africa.

Facebook has been trying hard to provide free and “controversial” internet to the people using its Internet.org initiative. In the past, the company has explored the option to beam free internet from space with the help of its giant drones.

The company even plans to provide the internet using its own satellites in the future, but Mark Zuckerberg is ready to team up with others to fasten this process. According to a new agreement, Facebook has teamed up with Eutelsat to provide free internet in Africa using the existing satellites.

The company is planning to bring this ambitious plan to life in late 2016. Eutelsat, Facebook’s new-found partner will be delivering the free internet from space with a satellite to offline parts of sub-Saharan Africa from next year.

From late 2016, Eutelsat and Facebook will use the satellite AMOS-6 to beam direct internet to the smartphones in West, East and Southern Africa. This satellite is being made by Israeli company Spacecom and is expected to be launched by the end of this year.

“Facebook’s mission is to connect the world and we believe that satellites will play an important role in addressing the significant barriers that exist in connecting the people of Africa. We are looking forward to partnering with Eutelsat on this project,” said Chris Daniels, VP of Internet.org.

With its controversial Internet.org initiative, Facebook wants to bring more and more people online and serve them its own version of the internet.

Commenting on the agreement, Michel de Rosen, Eutelsat Chairman and CEO, said: “We are excited by this opportunity to accelerate the deployment of our broadband strategy and to partner with Facebook on a new initiative to provide Internet access services in Africa.

It should be noted that Facebook has rebranded its free Internet.org service as “Free Basics by Facebook” to make it more identifiable as a free service.

Want to say something ? Tell us in the comments below.

Facebook: Tech News nation

 

Goodbye Google: Google Is Becoming Alphabet Today.

Google said that its long-awaited Alphabet restructuring will happen at the end of the day on Friday.

Tonight, the Google we know will cease to exist. Tonight, a new company named Alphabet will be born.

After the closing of trading on Friday, Google’s Class A and C stocks will start trading as Alphabet Class C Capital Stock and Alphabet Class A Common Stock, on the Nasaq.

Company co-founder Larry Page has hoped that this restructuring will help the company to be more focused in new areas like healthcare and automobile.

Did you miss the real reason why Google restructured itself under the conglomerate known as Alphabet? Know the reason in our in-depth Google-to-Alphabet article.

Also read: The real meaning of A-Z of Google’s new Alphabet

Have something to add? Tell us in the comments below.

Tonight, the Google we know will cease to exist. Tonight, a new company named Alphabet will be born.After the closing of trading on Friday, Google’s Class A and C stocks will start trading as Alphabet Class C Capital Stock and Alphabet Class A Common Stock, on the Nasaq.