Can You Make The Tough Decisions?

R.I.P.

On March 5, 2016, US defense contractor Raytheon suffered the loss of star technologist Ray Tomlinson; he would have turned 75 in April & had been working with Raytheon since decades. It is too early - at least for financial analysts who don't have the security clearance to be informed of what Mr. Tomlinson was working on - to calculate the effect on Raytheon's current financial status & future investment potential. But the news is still disconcerting from the point of view that a company, no matter how many victories it has under its belt, is only as successful as the heart & soul of the enterprise. For example, Apple is good & all...but it hasn't been great since Steve Jobs was diagnosed with cancer. The phenomenon of a gifted manager being literally irreplaceable can be both a great advantage & a serious disadvantage.

Over the decades, Raytheon has marketed many impressive products. At the moment, it produces a whole line of defense-related products from weaponry to surveillance technology. But its biggest cash cow is its product line related to its "Active Denial System" (ADS) technology. The ADS is a very promising technology that is rumored to have been in use in Pakistan since at least 15 years; but that claim cannot be conclusively substantiated because Raytheon is a defense contractor & consequently must adhere to the rules of discretion that all defense contractors respect so deeply. However, the ADS is worth every penny Raytheon has spent securing proprietary rights because it is literally the Holy Grail of weapons technology: a gun that can bring down a building, dissolve a man from the inside out or render the obstinate miraculously cooperative.

However, now that Mr. Tomlinson is dead, the million dollar question is can Raytheon maintain the profitability of the ADS on its own? To quote the Boston Box, Apple's "i" product line was both Rising Star & Cash Cow as long as Jobs was alive & well; it has turned into a combination of Problem Child & Old Dog ever since he fell ill. It's such a tragedy that the only headline any media outlet now bothers to devote to Apple is the increasingly boring debate about whether it will hand its pass codes over to the US Government or not, when in any case, nobody is stupid enough to store anything he or she wants to keep private on a cellphone.

Raytheon faces an even more complicated situation; the ADS is the apple of many an intelligence agency's eye, but looked upon as an instrument of torture & a weapon as dangerous & controversial as the A-bomb by those who have been at the receiving end of its effects...a population that is bigger than currently estimated, stretches over several international borders & includes a sizeable number of unsuspecting test subjects who don't have so much as a parking ticket against them. All this means is that Raytheon is skating on thin ice; the ADS is a very controversial technology, which is rapidly racking up the numbers of experts who publicly state that it is highly dangerous & should be banned. If that happens, all the fancy missiles in the world will not be able to repair (or even conceal) the dent in Raytheon's bottom line. It needs to go back to the good old days when it could produce blockbusters like the microwave oven - in effect, the time may have come for Raytheon to start getting re-acquainted with its genuinely non-lethal side.

But what exactly is the ADS? How does it work? Why are its effects considered potentially fatal? This week's offering from The Green Town Investor is an introduction to the wonders of Raytheon's weapons of mercy - & their effect on the global workforce & industry.

Raytheon's Active Denial System

The Active Denial System (ADS) is a directed-energy weapon developed by the U.S. military, & designed for area denial, perimeter security & crowd control. It works by heating the surface of targets, such as the skin of targeted human subjects, but if the frequency is re-adjusted it can even target specific internal organs - with horrific effects. Raytheon has developed a smaller version of the ADS, the Silent Guardian. This model is marketed for use by law enforcement agencies, the military & other security providers. The system is operated & aimed with a joystick & aiming screen & the device can be used on targets over a kilometre away.

Michael Hanlon, British science writer & editor - who volunteered to experience its effects in 2007 - described it as "a bit like touching a red-hot wire, but there is no heat, only the sensation of heat." Raytheon claims that pain ceases instantly upon removal of the ray,  but Hanlon reported that the finger he subjected "was tingling hours later." Poor Mr. Hanlon died of a heart attack at the age of 51 just last month (February 9, 2016).

Long-term effects have never really been properly confirmed or denied; the idea of trying has been somewhat unpopular ever since Nikola Tesla (who is to directed energy weapons what Einstein is to nuclear weapons - the inventor) stated that directed energy weapons were the ultimate nightmare in that the target would never see it coming & consequently was in no position to save himself. Mr. Tesla was unable to prove his point because he apparently developed some unacceptable eccentricities after his statement, was declared partly insane & then died. So the debate was left unfinished & no scientist today has shown particular enthusiasm to publish any findings in this field; the result is that the general public has nothing but Raytheon's solemn promise that anybody who says he or she is getting slowly killed by exposure to directed energy weapons is either a lunatic or a liar.

The Post-Antibiotic Age

As luck would have it, this debate can be put to rest once & for all by one particular organization: the World Health Organization. Over the last several weeks, Dr. Margaret Chan & her team of trusty lieutenants have been spreading awareness of a new era in healthcare: "The Post-Antibiotic Age". According to Dr. Chan & co., the incorrect use of antibiotics has created a whole new line of antibiotic-resistant bacteria that reduce a patient to a vegetable or kill him outright regardless of how strong an antibiotic may be prescribed. They go on to say that this line of super germs is sweeping the world & the only thing that can be done by the WHO is to run refresher courses on how antibiotics are supposed to be used & remind people that "what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger".

This situation kind of reminds people in Pakistan about the events following the official arrival of bird flu in this country. The authorities fell into the habit of shrieking "BIRD FLU!!!" every time anyone sniffed; they went on to forecast certain death for the stubborn sniffer if he didn't hand over the family nest egg in return for a course of Roche's blockbuster drug Tamiflu; Christmas came early for Roche, until Pfizer finally made its voice heard that the much cheaper Vibramycin was a far more effective treatment option. To quote Shakespeare, much ado about nothing.

The last time a super germ swept the world was the Spanish Flu in 1918. That year, the world population was 1.8 billion (1,800,000,000); the Spanish Flu infected approximately 500 million (500,000,000); 20 million to 50 million (20,000,000 - 50,000,000) died; all in the time frame of 8 weeks!

The human race is very grateful that such a situation is not unfolding today. But considering that it isn't, is it possible that the World Health Organization has misinterpreted the situation - perfectly healthy people complaining of extremely uncomfortable symptoms that don't respond to any conventional treatment - & it is not really a result of some supernatural bacterium or virus? Is the WHO absolutely certain that this "global pandemic" is not a case of mass exposure to directed energy weapons? How many lives could have been saved in 1945 if the world had known that exposure to dangerous energy waves may look like a conventional infection or disease but it will not respond to the conventional treatment?

Conclusion

Awareness of the "unforeseen side effects" of directed energy weapons are rapidly becoming common knowledge (primarily because the pool of affectees is rapidly expanding). That means, Raytheon would be wise to have a Plan B for when (not if) the ADS technology is blacklisted. But it is a rare & exceptional human being who understands the importance of making the tough decision before it is out of his or her hands.

Case in point: Dr. Chan's tenure as Director General of the World Health Organization will wind to a close next year (2017); even though she is at the tail end of her stint as head of the WHO, she is faced with a decision that will make or break her legacy in the healthcare sector. She has worked to improve world health for a decade, but at the end of the day, was her management style that of a glorified nurse or did she have the courage to document the cold hard truth?

TO FURTHER ILLUSTRATE THE POINT OF THIS DEBATE, I HAVE TAKEN THE LIBERTY OF REPRODUCING MICHAEL HANLON'S ARTICLE FROM THE DAILY MAIL WEBSITE HERE; THE ORIGINAL CAN BE FOUND AT http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-482560/Run-away-ray-gun-coming--We-test-US-armys-new-secret-weapon.html

Run away the ray-gun is coming : We test US army's new secret weapon

By MICHAEL HANLON

Last updated at 23:21 18 September 2007

"Yes, it's on. Move your finger a bit closer."

"Er ... ow! OW!" Not good. I try again. "OWWW!" I pull my hand away sharpish. My finger is throbbing, but seems undamaged.

I was told people can take it for a second, maximum. No way, not for a wimp like me.

I try it again. It is a bit like touching a red-hot wire, but there is no heat, only the sensation of heat. There is no burn mark or blister.

Its makers claim this infernal machine is the modern face of warfare. It has a nice, friendly sounding name, Silent Guardian.

I am told not to call it a ray-gun, though that is precisely what it is (the term "pain gun" is maybe better, but I suppose they would like that even less).

And, to be fair, the machine is not designed to vaporise, shred, atomise, dismember or otherwise cause permanent harm.

But it is a horrible device nonetheless, and you are forced to wonder what the world has come to when human ingenuity is pressed into service to make a thing like this.

Silent Guardian is making waves in defence circles. Built by the U.S. firm Raytheon, it is part of its "Directed Energy Solutions" programme.

What it amounts to is a way of making people run away, very fast, without killing or even permanently harming them.

That is what the company says, anyway. The reality may turn out to be more horrific.

I tested a table-top demonstration model, but here's how it works in the field.

A square transmitter as big as a plasma TV screen is mounted on the back of a Jeep.

When turned on, it emits an invisible, focused beam of radiation - similar to the microwaves in a domestic cooker - that are tuned to a precise frequency to stimulate human nerve endings.

It can throw a wave of agony nearly half a mile.

Because the beam penetrates skin only to a depth of 1/64th of an inch, it cannot, says Raytheon, cause visible, permanent injury.

But anyone in the beam's path will feel, over their entire body, the agonising sensation I've just felt on my fingertip. The prospect doesn't bear thinking about.

"I have been in front of the full-sized system and, believe me, you just run. You don't have time to think about it - you just run," says George Svitak, a Raytheon executive.

Silent Guardian is supposed to be the 21st century equivalent of tear gas or water cannon - a way of getting crowds to disperse quickly and with minimum harm. Its potential is obvious.

"In Iraq, there was a situation when combatants had taken media as human shields. The battalion commander told me there was no way of separating combatants from non-combatants without lethal force," Mr Svitak tells me.

He says this weapon would have made it possible because everyone, friend or foe, would have run from it.

In tests, even the most hardened Marines flee after a few seconds of exposure. It just isn't possible to tough it out.

This machine has the ability to inflict limitless, unbearable pain.

What makes it OK, says Raytheon, is that the pain stops as soon as you are out of the beam or the machine is turned off.

But my right finger was tingling hours later - was that psychosomatic?

So what is the problem? All right, it hurts, but then so do tear gas and water cannon and they have been used by the world's police and military for decades.

Am I being squeamish?

One thing is certain: not just the Silent Guardian, but weapons such as the Taser, the electric stun-gun, are being rolled out by Britain's police forces as the new way of controlling people by using pain.

And, as the Raytheon chaps all insist, you always have the option to get out of the way (just as you have the option to comply with the police officer's demands and not get Tasered).

But there is a problem: mission creep. This is the Americanism which describes what happens when, over time, powers or techniques are used to ends not stated or even imagined when they were devised.

With the Taser, the rules in place in Britain say it must be used only as an alternative to the gun. But what happens in ten or 20 years if a new government chooses to amend these rules?

It is so easy to see the Taser being used routinely to control dissent and pacify - as, indeed, already happens in the U.S.

And the Silent Guardian? Raytheon's Mac Jeffery says it is being looked at only by the "North American military and its allies" and is not being sold to countries with questionable human rights records.

An MoD spokesman said Britain is not planning to buy this weapon.

In fact, it is easy to see the raygun being used not as an alternative to lethal force (when I can see that it is quite justified), but as an extra weapon in the battle against dissent.

Because it is, in essence, a simple machine, it is easy to see similar devices being pressed into service in places with extremely dubious reputations.

There are more questions: in tests, volunteers have been asked to remove spectacles and contact lenses before being microwaved. Does this imply these rays are not as harmless as Raytheon insists?

What happens when someone with a weak heart is zapped?

And, perhaps most worryingly, what if deployment of Silent Guardian causes mass panic, leaving some people unable to flee in the melee? Will they just be stuck there roasting?

Raytheon insists the system is set up to limit exposure, but presumably these safeguards can be over-ridden.

Silent Guardian and the Taser are just the first in a new wave of "non-lethal" weaponry being developed, mostly in the U.S.

These include not only microwave ray-guns, but the terrifying Pulsed Energy Projectile weapon. This uses a powerful laser which, when it hits someone up to 11/2 miles away, produces a "plasma" - a bubble of superhot gas - on the skin.

A report in New Scientist claimed the focus of research was to heighten the pain caused by this semi-classified weapon.

And a document released under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act talks of "optimal pulse parameters to evoke peak nociceptor activation" - i.e. cause the maximum agony possible, leaving no permanent damage.

Perhaps the most alarming prospect is that such machines would make efficient torture instruments.

They are quick, clean, cheap, easy to use and, most importantly, leave no marks. What would happen if they fell into the hands of unscrupulous nations where torture is not unknown?

The agony the Raytheon gun inflicts is probably equal to anything in a torture chamber - these waves are tuned to a frequency exactly designed to stimulate the pain nerves.

I couldn't hold my finger next to the device for more than a fraction of a second. I could make the pain stop, but what if my finger had been strapped to the machine?

Dr John Wood, a biologist at UCL and an expert in the way the brain perceives pain, is horrified by the new pain weapons.

"They are so obviously useful as torture instruments," he says.

"It is ethically dubious to say they are useful for crowd control when they will obviously be used by unscrupulous people for torture."

We use the word "medieval" as shorthand for brutality. The truth is that new technology makes racks look benign.

The Biometric Business: Building A Better Mousetrap

Introduction

A few days ago, I saw an enthusiastic advertisement about the great new offer from PTCL: Get your Evo or Charji device biometrically verified - who knows, you may be paying around 2K a month for a felon who stole your device & is currently watching porn at your expense & you wouldn't even notice the drain on your resources! How dare he or she! All it takes is your finger to prevent this horror from happening!

After I finished feeling great about yet another errand in my already-busy schedule, I got to thinking about the biometric security industry. One thing is certain, the Pakistani authorities are head-over-heels about the technology, so it is reasonable to assume that the companies in this industry are set for a further profit boost in 2016.

If that is the case, it means that prospective investors need to get acquainted with the biometric security industry as soon as possible. This week's edition of The Green Town Investor is a primer on what the industry does, accompanied by a "Who's Who" of the companies most likely to make money by riding the biometric wave in Pakistan.

The Nature & History Of Biometrics

Biometrics is the name of a specialized field of metrics linked to human characteristics. Biometrics authentication is used in computer science as a form of identification & access control, as well as to identify individuals in groups that are under surveillance.

Biometric identifiers are the distinctive, measurable characteristics used to label & describe individual subjects or targets. Biometric identifiers are often categorized as physiological versus behavioral characteristics. Physiological characteristics are related to the shape of the body. Examples include, but are not limited to fingerprints, palm veins, facial recognition, DNA, palm prints, hand geometry, iris recognition, retina & odor/scent. Behavioral characteristics are related to the pattern of behavior of a person, including but not limited to typing rhythm, gait & voice. Some researchers have coined the term "Behaviometrics" to describe the latter class of biometrics.

Cataloguing of fingerprints dates back to 1891 when Juan Vucetich started fingerprinting criminals in Argentina. Josh Ellenbogen & Nitzan Lebovic argued that Biometrics originated in the identificatory systems of criminal activity developed by Alphonse Bertillon (1853–1914) & developed by Francis Galton's theory of fingerprints & physiognomy. According to Lebovic, Galton's work "led to the application of mathematical models to fingerprints, phrenology & facial characteristics", as part of "absolute identification" & "a key to both inclusion & exclusion" of populations. Accordingly, biometrics is a form of "soft control". The theoretician David Lyon showed that during the past two decades biometric systems have penetrated the civilian market & blurred the lines between governmental forms of control & private corporate control.

ABI Research says overall revenues for the biometrics market are expected to hit US$13.8 billion in 2015. The majority of revenues in most biometric recognition technologies are still coming from governmental entities, ABI notes. But due to increased consumer acceptance of biometric tools, consumer & enterprise segments are predicted to catch up with governmental spending in late 2017, becoming the dominant portion of the market.

Top Ten Mobile Biometrics Companies (Courtesy www.technavio.com)

1. 3M Cogent

3M Cogent is a leading biometric identification solutions provider to governments, & legal & commercial enterprises. The company provides the highest quality identification systems, products, & services with the leading technology, speed, & accuracy at over 99.9%. The products offered by 3M Cogent are used for biometric access control, passenger check-in, product security & border management. It has partnership networks with the leading companies from different domains, such as Accenture, BlackBerry, Lockheed Martin, Siemens, Northrop Grumman & Sun Microsystems. The company offers a wide product portfolio, which includes facial identification management solutions, biometric enrolment solutions, mobile identification solutions, fingerprint/palm print card conversion systems, mobile identification products, physical access control solutions, ID management & credentialing solutions, & logical access control solutions.

2. Apple

Authentec was acquired by Apple in 2012. The company is a global leader in the designing & manufacturing of mobile devices, software, PCs & mobile communication. It has a wide range of product offerings such as iPhone, iPad, Mac, iTunes, Software & Services, Accessories & iPod segments. It offers its own operating systems, iOS & OS X, various application software services including iWork & iLife, & Apple TV. It was the first company to launch fingerprint recognition technology in smartphones, which is now being followed by other mobile device vendors such as Samsung, HTC & Motorola.

3. Fujitsu

Fujitsu is one of the largest IT services providers with the majority of its revenue being drawn from the APAC region. The company carries on its operations in three segments; Industry Solutions; Business & Technology Solutions; & Fujitsu Cloud. Fujitsu provides a wide range of products to its customers such as computing products, software, network & electronic devices. The company is known for its PalmSecure product, a hand geometry biometrics solution. This biometrics technology is witnessing slow growth. PalmSecure has an extremely low FRR of 0.01% & an FAR of less than 0.00008%.

4. NEC

NEC is a global leader in the integration of IT & network technologies. The company delivers tailored solutions in the key fields of computer, networking & electronic devices. It has a very strong presence & acceptance in the APAC region. The company operates in five major segments: Public, Enterprise, Telecom Carrier, System Platform, & Others. NEC has more than 1,000 customers in over 30 countries worldwide & operates in more than 140 countries. The company focuses on innovations in information & communication technology. Its R&D domains include knowledge discovery, cloud system, smart energy, information & media processing, green platforms & innovations in computers & communications.

5. BioEnable Technologies

BioEnable Technologies Pvt. Ltd. is a leading Indian company working in the field of advanced electronic identification, automation & tracking products & services. Founded in year 2001, it has over 100 employees & customers in over 50 countries worldwide. It designs & develops innovative products based on a complex set of technologies. This has brought the experience to work on a wide range of platforms like Web, mobile, desktop & embedded. It is possibly the only company worldwide with the ability to understand its customers' requirements & then design both hardware & software on a wide range of platforms for identification, automation & tracking applications.

6. ImageWare Systems

ImageWare Systems, Inc. is a leading provider of identity management solutions driven by multi-modal biometrics. It delivers multi-modal biometric identity management solutions for user authentication on premises & in the cloud. Its patented, agnostic, plug-n-play technology promotes interactive communication & Out-Of-Band Authentication on mobile platforms & brings security to a new level. Its innovative products, such as GoCloudID & GoMobile Interactive, enable modular, flexible, & scalable identity solutions across a variety of markets, including mobile, wireless, financial services & healthcare. ImageWare’s identity management system allows customers to easily add a secure layer of biometric authentication to a variety of platforms & services.

7. M2SYS

With over a decade of experience & millions of end users in more than 100 countries worldwide, M2SYS Technology delivers innovative, scalable & practical identity management solutions that increase security & convenience while saving money, building accountability & establishing trust for governments & businesses around the world. The company continues to innovate, build & deliver leading-edge enterprise biometric solutions that transform the industry & expand the applicability of biometric technology in the marketplace. M2SYS has been recognized for numerous industry accolades, including Frost & Sullivan’s 2007 North American Biometrics Technology Innovation of the Year, the 2011 New Product Innovation Award, & the Atlanta Metro Chamber of Commerce 2014 Global Impact Award for Innovation.

8. Mobbeel

Mobbeel is a young startup (July 2009) but it has been created by experienced founders & advisors. The technology it offers however has been under development since early 2008. The team is formed by brilliant engineers with extensive experience developing complex software for IT consulting companies such as IBM or Indra (the largest Spanish IT consulting firm). All of them have complemented their technical knowledge with management skills & experience (project planning, conflict resolution & team leading) & have received numerous awards from their respective companies for their commitment, performance & innovation.

9. Precise Biometrics

Precise Biometrics is a market-leading provider of solutions for fingerprint recognition to prove people's identities. With top-of-the-line expertise in fingerprint verification, Precise Biometrics offers fast, accurate & secure authentication of a person.The technology adds value to ID, enterprise & bank cards as well as access to mobile solutions (smartphones & tablets), computers & networks. Precise Biometrics serves business & government organizations throughout the world & its technology is licensed to close to 160 million users.

10. S.I.C Biometrics

Business reality has changed dramatically over the last decade with the rise of the Mobile Workforce & the increasing complexity of IT infrastructure spreading its wings on the Cloud. Since 2009, S.I.C. Biometrics has developed innovative Fingerprint Biometric technologies for commercial mobile devices to help organizations monitoring personnel’s movement, enabling easy & secure data access & facilitating personnel’s identification; thus, greatly enhancing security both of the premises & of IT assets. S.I.C.’s Biometric Identity Authentication Management solutions can help organizations in meeting these new challenges; adding security, convenience & productivity to their operations.

Cybercrime 101: Welcome To The Dark Web

WEB VILLAINY

Depending on perspective & priorities, the turn of the Century has brought many developments; but as far as I'm concerned, the greatest development of all is the globalization of the Internet. Without the Web, people like me would have found it very difficult to run our businesses, make alliances or even find information we actually want to know (unlike what the average TV news channel has to offer).

But sadly, that same freedom of information & communication has proven to be an equal (or even greater) boon to the criminal underworld, who have turned a percentage of the Web into a pleasantly anonymous platform for any & every kind of illicit transaction under the Sun. Such activities have become so prolific, that they have changed the image of the Dark Web from a place for people to discuss distasteful political topics, to a booming criminal marketplace.

This poses a whole new problem, primarily for Internet entrepreneurs (like yours truly). How can we make certain our business names don't get sullied by freeloading criminals, if we have no idea how they do it? The best case scenario would be a regular journal of some sort that specializes in keeping the business world informed about the latest online misdemeanor or felony, without getting lost in a technical sermon on ones & zeroes. But the absence of such a magazine or newspaper would indicate that the question of offering relevant information at profitable rates has not been satisfactorily answered as yet. In the meantime, this week's edition attempts to clear up the confusion - to a certain extent - by offering a primer of the commercially-significant factors in the Dark Web phenomenon currently sweeping the globe.

Online Black Markets

An online black market is a website or group of websites, usually found via the Tor browser on the Dark Web, upon which goods or services are traded illegally. The key distinction between a legal commercial website & an online black market is that the transaction itself is illegal. The goods or services may or may not themselves be illegal to own, or to trade through other, legal channels.

The Silk Road was an online black market and the first modern Dark Web market, best known as a platform for selling illegal drugs. It was launched as a partnership between "Dread Pirate Roberts" (confirmed real name Ross William Ulbricht), "Variety Jones" (suspected real name Thomas Clark) & "Smedley" (suspected real name Mike Wattier). Its US operations lasted from February 2011 to October 2013, when the FBI shut it down; its European operations were re-launched as "Silk Road 2.0" & went on until November 6, 2014, after which it was deactivated by Europol.

During the time it was open for business, it is said to have made an annual revenue of approximately US$15 million & sold an entire range of products, some of which were drugs, fake driver's licenses, apparel, art, books, cigarettes, erotica, jewellery, & writing services. Weapons (primarily guns) were sold on a sister site called "The Armory" in 2012, but was shut down within a year because of prohibitively slow sales (possibly because other sites such as "Black Market Reloaded" were rumored to be far more convenient when it came to transactions involving items such as weapons of all types, stolen credit cards, child pornography & assassinations).

However, the business model of the original Silk Road has apparently engendered plenty of respect & admiration on the Dark Web, turning it into something of a Hydra-like problem. After the closure of Silk Road 2.0 in November 2014, "Diabolus Market" (another Dark Web black market site) renamed itself to "Silk Road 3 Reloaded". Further, "Silk Road Reloaded" launched (on I2P with multiple cryptocurrency support & similar listing restrictions to the first Silk Road site) in January 2015.

Ransomware

Ransomware is a type of malware that prevents or limits users from accessing their computer systems & databases. It compels its targets to make blackmail payments through specific online methods in return for getting access to their systems, or to have their data returned.

Some examples of well-known ransomware are Reveton (launched in 2012), CryptoLocker (launched in 2013), CryptoLocker.F, TorrentLocker & CryptoWall (all launched in 2014).

INTERNET INSECURITY

The short summary on ransomware brings us to the question of what exactly is malware & how does it operate? Malware is an umbrella term that covers a variety of intrusive software & malicious programs such as advanced persistent threats (APT), backdoors, greyware, rootkits, trojan horses, viruses & worms. Given below are useful & relevant descriptions of each of these computer threats (courtesy Wikipedia & Webopedia).

Advanced Persistent Threat (APT)

Also called evasion. A targeted attack that uses multiple phases to penetrate a network and then obtain valuable information over an extended period of time.

Backdoor

Also called a trapdoor. An undocumented way of gaining access to a program, online service or an entire computer system.

Greyware

Malicious software or code that is considered to fall in the "grey area" between normal software and a virus. Greyware is a term for which all other malicious or annoying software such as adware, spyware, trackware, and other malicious code and malicious shareware fall under.

Rootkit

A type of malicious software that is activated each time your system boots up. Bootkits extend the basic functionality of rootkits by infecting the master boot record (MBR) in order to remain active even after a system reboot.

Trojan Horse

A destructive program that masquerades as a benign application. Unlike viruses, trojan horses do not replicate themselves but they can be just as destructive.

Virus

A computer virus is a program or piece of code that is loaded onto your computer without your knowledge and runs against your wishes.

Worm

A program or algorithm that replicates itself over a computer network and usually performs malicious actions.

DON'T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK

The uncomfortable mystique of the Dark Web is the same as the ancient fear of "falling off the edge of the World", which was fairly prevalent among sailors when people believed that the Earth was flat. This fear dissolved only once the knowledge of the Earth's actual shape & the concept of gravity became available to all of mankind. This story teaches us that the only way to ward off a threat is to understand how it works. Knowledge converts fear to caution.

Doing business on the Dark Web is based on three important requirements: a bitcoin account, a website with a .onion domain name & a Tor browser, all of which are free courtesy of donations from various non-profit organizations & (according to rumors) certain arms of the US Government.

Bitcoin (BTC)

Bitcoin is an online form of (more-or-less) fixed asset & payment system. It was invented by an unidentified person or group whose online pseudonym is Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008 & released as an open source software on January 3, 2009.

Network nodes (i.e. computers dedicated to the purpose) verify transactions, which are then recorded in a publicly distributed ledger known as the block chain. A group of accepted transactions is known as a block; a block is created, included in the block chain & published to all nodes, approximately every ten minutes. By current regulations, each block is worth about 25 bitcoins (until mid 2016), & then afterwards 12.5 bitcoins per block for 4 years until next halving. This halving continues until 2110-2140 when 21 million bitcoins have been issued.

Bitcoin exchange rates vary (much like any other commodity) according to time & place. It is regularly used for a number of legal transactions (for example, US Presidential candidate Rand Paul accepts campaign donations in bitcoin), but it is most well-known for its popularity on the Dark Web.

.onion Domains

The .onion domain name is a top level domain (TLD) suffix for anonymous hidden service websites accessible solely via the Tor network. The .onion domains aren't actual DNS names, and the .onion TLD is not in the Internet DNS root, but with the appropriate proxy software, web browsers can access sites with .onion addresses by sending the request through the Tor server network. The purpose is to make both the information provider & the person accessing the information relatively untraceable, by one another, by an intermediate network host, or by an outside party.

The Onion Router (TOR)

The fundamental principle of Tor, "onion routing", was developed in the mid-1990s by United States Naval Research Laboratory mathematician Paul Syverson & computer scientists Michael G. Reed & David Goldschlag. The purpose was to protect U.S. intelligence communications online. Onion routing was further developed by DARPA in 1997. However, the official version of Tor was not ready until September 20, 2002. Syverson worked with two other computer scientists Roger Dingledine & Nick Mathewson to create this new iteration of the original software.

In December 2006, Dingledine, Mathewson & five others founded The Tor Project, a Massachusetts-based 501(c)(3) research-education non-profit organization responsible for maintaining Tor. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) acted as The Tor Project's fiscal sponsor in its early years, & early financial supporters of The Tor Project included the U.S. International Broadcasting Bureau, Internews, Human Rights Watch (HRW), the University of Cambridge, Google, & Netherlands-based Stichting NLnet.

Tor conceals user identities & online activities through the implementation of "onion routing"; this concept is defined as the process of the encryption (which is multi-layered - hence the onion metaphor) & random bouncing of communications around a relay network operated & maintained by thousands of volunteers across the world. This system means two things: firstly, concealment from surveillance & traffic analysis, & secondly, the anonymity of the sender & receiver of information even to each other.

PRACTICAL PANACEAS

So, how can an Internet firm protect itself from the creepy-crawlies that might slither out of the Dark Web & attack it? The technological answer consists of two options: an air-gapped network (in networks, an air gap is a type of security where the network is secured by keeping it separate from other local networks & the Internet. While this provides security, it also limits access to the network by clients) or the protective software programs offered by companies like Intel Security Group (formerly McAfee, Inc.), Kaspersky & Symantec.

But the most important thing we can do to protect ourselves is the oldest trick in the book: Gather as much information as possible about the latest scams making the rounds, & identify the way in which your personal assets can be of use in such illicit schemes. After all, a hired guard isn't working to protect your interests because he loves you; he is pursuing a career or funding a lifestyle. Only you are actually concerned about the continued welfare of your holdings.

HP & "The Ostrich Effect"

No Money Without Trust

Hewlett Packard made headlines at the beginning of November when it officially announced that it had split into two separate financial entities: Hewlett Packard Enterprise (which provides data center hardware & services to corporate clientèle) & HP Inc. (which sells personal computers & printers to retail customers). The financial dailies & weeklies sweetly pontificated about how each company had fared on the stock markets & what were the differences in the administrative styles of Meg Whitman & Dion Weisler. It was also emphasised that the news was not quite as explosive as it was being cracked up to be, because HP had started the paperwork for the split back in July.

All very well & good. But what the investor community would really like to know is why & when the split really took place. This question is not going to be resolved with anything short of the cold hard facts, no matter how many references to "branching out" & "evolving" are bandied about in the popular press. Because, if an investment is made in either company before understanding the relationship dynamics between the two HPs & which step or decision made them go their separate ways, it will be practically impossible to make certain the people in charge of shareholder money won't commit the same blunders again.

However, the HP PR department is strangely silent. If the two halves of HP filed for divorce in July, shouldn't they have had ample time to come up with a coherent explanation four months later? Apparently, they need more time. But they had better step up their game because the longer they stick to the silent treatment, the more suspicious their stakeholders (both investors & customers) are going to become.

The Hewlett-Packard Company (January 1, 1939 - November 1, 2015)

William Redington Hewlett & David Packard were two Stanford University electrical engineers who established HP in Packard's garage in Palo Alto (California) with an initial capital investment of US$538.

HP's first high profile customer was Walt Disney Productions, which bought 8 Model 200B oscillators (for US$71.50 each). The company also worked on counter-radar technology & artillery shell fuses during World War II. These enterprises eventually proved profitable enough that HP was able to be incorporated on August 18, 1947 & went public on November 6, 1957.

After its IPO, the small company started gradually expanding its scope & influence. While it achieved a number of milestones, the easiest way to get an understanding of its priorities over the years is to assess its history during its strongest era that unfolded between 1960 & 2000, decade by decade.

HP is accepted as the symbolic founder of Silicon Valley, but it probably never would have gone into semiconductors were it not for its partnership with Japanese companies Sony & Yokogawa Electric to develop high quality consumer electronics during the early 1960s. The experience gathered working in this sector eventually led to HP's entry into the computer market in 1966 when it produced the HP 2100 / HP 1000 series of minicomputers.

It spent the 1970s manufacturing & marketing the HP-35 (handheld scientific electronic calculator), the HP-65 (handheld programmable), the HP-41C (alphanumeric programmable expandable) & the HP-28C (symbolic & graphing calculator). It also produced the first technical desktop computers between 1975 & 1979, but the limitations of the available technology resulted in prohibitively high price tags.

The highlight of the 1980s was the mass production & marketing of HP's signature inkjet & laser printers & scanners designed to be compatible with desktop computers. Not only were the initial prototypes well-received they went on to spawn an entire line of successful multifunction products such as the single-unit printer/scanner/copier/fax machines.

Until the 1990s, HP's computer product line was targeted at businesses, research projects & universities; the 1990s signalled HP's first large-scale foray into the consumer market. That decade also marked a business decision that went on to prove very detrimental to the company's image later on. In 1997, HP sold over US$120 million worth of its printers and computer products to Iran through a European subsidiary and a Dubai-based distributor, despite U.S. export sanctions prohibiting such deals imposed by Bill Clinton's executive orders issued in 1995. The sale triggered an inquiry by the SEC. HP responded that products worth US$120 million were sold in fiscal year 2008 for distribution by way of a company based in the Netherlands, Redington Gulf, and that as these sales took place through a foreign subsidiary, HP didn't violate sanctions.

What Went Wrong?

From 2000 onwards, HP seems to have lost its edge. It stopped producing new technology & it no longer had the drive to open up new markets to American technology. While it still commanded a position of importance on the global stage, it seems to have accepted its position as a corporate behemoth who could afford to rest on its laurels for the next few decades. The loss of the sharp, competitive attitude that was its main feature in the beginning decades might have been the first indication of its impending breakup. However, there are also quite a few misadventures that followed HP's acceptance of a complacent attitude, the main ones being as follows:

2003:-
HP restated its Q1 cash flow from operations, reducing it 18% because of an accounting error. Actual cash flow from operations was US$647 million, not US$791 million as reported earlier. HP shifted US$144 million to net cash used in investing activities.

2006:-
HP Chairwoman Patricia Dunn recruited a team of private investigators to impersonate  HP board members & journalists to illegally obtain phone records & other data in an attempt to identify the source of an information leak.

2007:-
HP was found to have incorporated defective NVIDIA chipsets into its computers. On finding out about the problems this step caused to consumers, it tried to take the quick-fix route of offering extensions in warranty periods, instead of issuing a product recall.

2014:-
The United States Securities & Exchange Commission found that HP's Russian subsidiary paid more than US$2 million through agents & shell companies to a Russian government official to retain a multimillion-dollar contract with the federal prosecutor's office. HP's Polish subsidiary provided gifts and cash bribes worth more than US$600,000 to a Polish government official for contracts with the national police agency. In addition, as part of its bid to win a software sale to Mexico's state-owned petroleum company, HP's Mexican subsidiary paid more than US$1 million in inflated commissions to a consultant with close ties to company officials, & money was funnelled to one of those officials. HP agreed to pay US$108 million to settle the SEC charges and a parallel criminal case.

Grace Under Pressure & Full Disclosure

While the triggers of the HP breakup might never be fully understood by the general public, one thing that is common to all splits is the erosion of trust by the presence of conflict. Whether an enterprise is legal or illegal has absolutely nothing to do with the need for trust between the principle players.

It seems highly likely that some form of disloyalty led to the splintering of the company. No matter; what is done is done. But the important thing is not to allow a repetition of past blunders to mar the future of the new HPs. The PR departments of the two firms should be honest about what really happened. Or else, it is feared, the HP name will continue giving birth to "spin-offs" that will lose a percentage of the original firm's grandeur with every split...until the iconic founder of Silicon Valley is nothing but a myth from the distant past.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: The Eye In The Sky

INTRODUCTION

UAVs have become quite the norm even in a Developing World nation like Pakistan, to the point that the things can be seen hovering over nearly every public gathering like giant insects, gathering information about the event or the attendees. But, despite the 21st Century glamor about the UAV - the US FAA officially referred to drones in 2005, after the War On Terror began - variations of this technology have been in use since the mid-1800s.

The Free Dictionary (www.thefreedictionary.com) defines an unmanned aerial vehicle as follows:

"A powered, aerial vehicle that does not carry a human operator, uses aerodynamic forces to provide vehicle lift, can fly autonomously or be piloted remotely, can be expendable or recoverable, and can carry a lethal or non-lethal payload. Ballistic or semi-ballistic vehicles, cruise missiles, and artillery projectiles are not considered unmanned aerial vehicles. Also called UAV."

Renowned Serbian-American scientist Nikola Tesla - the first scientist to research the applications & dangers of directed energy weapons - was the first to design an unmanned combat aerial vehicle in 1915. In effect, UAVs as we know them today, have been in use since the early 1900s. They became an official part of military technology that is routinely used in the field in World War II, & have been highly sought-after weapons ever since.

They have come to the attention of the general public because of the recent crossover into civilian uses, some of which are cargo transport, commercial aerial surveillance (anti-piracy, home security, livestock monitoring, pipeline security, road patrol & wildfire mapping), commercial & motion picture film-making, conservation, crop spraying, de-mining, journalism, law enforcement, maritime patrol, professional aerial surveying (aerial photogrammetry, LiDAR platforms, oil, gas, minerals, disaster relief, archaeology), reconnaissance, scientific research & search & rescue.

TYPES

Whether a UAV is "civilian" or "military" in nature depends primarily on what equipment has been affixed to it. Civilian UAVs usually have different varieties of camera mounted on it, while military versions are equipped with a wide variety of "less than lethal" surveillance & crowd control gadgets. UAVs have gotten a very bad reputation during the last decade or so on account of the enthusiastic coverage of military drones blowing people to bits everywhere from Asia to Africa - mostly with no discrimination between the innocent & the guilty. Since the civilian UAV market is growing exponentially & there is no way to wash away the stain of the numerous "friendly fire" fiascos, the best way to address public distrust of the technology is a logical assessment of the most popular gadgets that UAVs can be equipped with, a list of which is given below (courtesy Wikipedia):

Cameras

A camera may work with the light of the visible spectrum or with other portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. A still camera is an optical device which creates a single image of an object or scene, and records it on an electronic sensor or photographic film. All cameras use the same basic design: light enters an enclosed box through a converging lens and an image is recorded on a light-sensitive medium. A shutter mechanism controls the length of time that light can enter the camera. A movie camera or a video camera operates similarly to a still camera, except it records a series of static images in rapid succession, commonly at a rate of 24 frames per second. When the images are combined and displayed in order, the illusion of motion is achieved.

Thermographic cameras usually detect radiation in the long-infrared range of the electromagnetic spectrum (roughly 9,000–14,000 nanometers or 9–14 µm) and produce images of that radiation, called thermograms. Since infrared radiation is emitted by all objects with a temperature above absolute zero according to the black body radiation law, thermography makes it possible to see one's environment with or without visible illumination. The amount of radiation emitted by an object increases with temperature; therefore, thermography allows one to see variations in temperature. When viewed through a thermal imaging camera, warm objects stand out well against cooler backgrounds; humans and other warm-blooded animals become easily visible against the environment, day or night. As a result, thermography is particularly useful to the military and other users of surveillance cameras.

Jammers

Radar jamming and deception (electronic countermeasure) is the intentional emission of radio frequency signals to interfere with the operation of a radar by saturating its receiver with noise or false information. There are two types of radar jamming: Mechanical and Electronic jamming.

A radio jammer is any device that deliberately blocks, jams or interferes with authorized wireless communications. In some cases jammers work by the transmission of radio signals that disrupt communications by decreasing the signal-to-noise ratio.

Counter-IED equipment is created primarily for military and law enforcement. It is used for stand-off detection of explosives and explosive precursor components and defeating the Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) themselves as part of a broader counter-terrorism, counter-insurgency, or law enforcement effort.

A mobile phone jammer is an instrument used to prevent cellular phones from receiving signals from base stations. When used, the jammer effectively disables cellular phones. These devices can be used in practically any location.

Rubber Bullets

Rubber bullets (also called rubber baton rounds) are rubber or rubber-coated projectiles that can be fired from either standard firearms or dedicated riot guns. They are intended to be a non-lethal alternative to metal projectiles. Like other similar projectiles made from plastic, wax, and wood, rubber bullets may be used for short range practice and animal control, but are most commonly associated with use in riot control and to disperse protests. These types of projectiles are sometimes called baton rounds. Rubber projectiles have largely been replaced by other materials as rubber tends to bounce uncontrollably. Such "kinetic impact munitions" are meant to cause pain but not serious injury. They are expected to produce contusions, abrasions, and hematomas. However, they may cause bone fractures, injuries to internal organs, or death. In a study of injuries in 90 patients injured by rubber bullets, one died, 17 suffered permanent disabilities or deformities and 41 required hospital treatment after being fired upon with rubber bullets.

Lachrymatory Agents


Tear gas, formally known as a lachrymatory agent or lachrymator (from the Latin "lacrima", meaning "tear"), is a chemical weapon that causes severe eye, respiratory, and skin irritation, pain, vomiting, and even blindness. In the eye, it stimulates the nerves of the lachrymal gland to produce tears. Common lachrymators include pepper spray (OC gas), CS gas, CR gas, CN gas (phenacyl chloride), nonivamide, bromoacetone, xylyl bromide, syn-propanethial-S-oxide (from onions), and Mace (a branded mixture). Lachrymatory agents are commonly used for riot control. Their use in warfare is prohibited by various international treaties. During World War I, increasingly toxic lachrymatory agents were used.

Pepper spray, also known as OC spray (from "oleoresin capsicum"), OC gas, and capsicum spray, is a lachrymatory agent (a chemical compound that irritates the eyes to cause tears, pain, and temporary blindness) used in policing, riot control, crowd control, and personal self-defense, including defense against dogs and bears. Its inflammatory effects cause the eyes to close, taking away vision. This temporary blindness allows officers to more easily restrain subjects and permits people using pepper spray for self-defense an opportunity to escape. Although considered a less-than-lethal agent, it has been deadly in rare cases, and concerns have been raised about a number of deaths where being pepper sprayed may have been a contributing factor.

Sonic Weapons

Sonic and ultrasonic weapons (USW) are weapons of various types that use sound to injure, incapacitate, or kill an opponent. Some sonic weapons are currently in limited use or in research and development by military and police forces. Some of these weapons have been described as sonic bullets, sonic grenades, sonic mines, or sonic cannons. Some make a focused beam of audible sound, infrasound or ultrasound; some make an area field of sound. Extremely high-power sound waves can disrupt or destroy the eardrums of a target and cause severe pain or disorientation. Less powerful sound waves can cause humans to experience nausea or discomfort. A device that produces frequency that causes vibration of the eyeballs - & therefore distortion of vision - was confirmed by the work of engineer Vic Tandy.

Electromagnetic Spectrum

An electromagnetic pulse (EMP), also sometimes called a transient electromagnetic disturbance, is a short burst of electromagnetic energy. Such a pulse may occur in the form of a radiated, electric or magnetic field or a conducted electric current depending on the source, and may be natural or man-made. The term "electromagnetic pulse" is commonly abbreviated to the initials EMP (which is pronounced by saying the letters separately, "E-M-P"). EMP interference is generally disruptive or damaging to electronic equipment, and at higher energy levels a powerful EMP event such as a lightning strike can damage physical objects such as buildings and aircraft structures. The management of EMP effects is an important branch of electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) engineering. The damaging effects of high-energy EMP have been used to create EMP weapons. These are typically divided into nuclear and non-nuclear devices.

A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The term "laser" originated as an acronym for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation". Lasers of all but the lowest powers can potentially be used as incapacitating weapons, through their ability to produce temporary or permanent vision loss in varying degrees when aimed at the eyes. The degree, character, and duration of vision impairment caused by eye exposure to laser light varies with the power of the laser, the wavelength(s), the collimation of the beam, the exact orientation of the beam, and the duration of exposure. Lasers of even a fraction of a watt in power can produce immediate, permanent vision loss under certain conditions, making such lasers potential non-lethal but incapacitating weapons. The extreme handicap that laser-induced blindness represents makes the use of lasers even as non-lethal weapons morally controversial, and weapons designed to cause blindness have been banned by the Protocol on Blinding Laser Weapons. Incidents of pilots being exposed to lasers while flying have prompted aviation authorities to implement special procedures to deal with such hazards.

Tasers

A Taser or conducted electrical weapon (CEW) is an electroshock weapon sold by Taser International. It fires two small dart-like electrodes, which stay connected to the main unit by conductors, to deliver electric current to disrupt voluntary control of muscles causing "neuromuscular incapacitation". Someone struck by a Taser experiences stimulation of their sensory nerves and motor nerves, resulting in strong involuntary muscle contractions. Tasers do not rely only on pain compliance, except when used in "Drive Stun" mode, and are thus preferred by some law enforcement over non-Taser stun guns and other electronic control weapons. Critics argue that Tasers and other high-voltage stun devices can cause cardiac arrhythmia in susceptible subjects, possibly leading to heart attack or death in minutes by ventricular fibrillation, which leads to cardiac arrest and - if not treated immediately - to sudden death. Tasers, like other electric devices, have been found to ignite flammable materials. For this reason Tasers come with express instructions not to use them where flammable liquids or fumes may be present, such as filling stations and methamphetamine labs.

Windows 10 & The 2015 Software Market

Microsoft Windows 10

In recent months, there has been a tidal wave of good (& bad) press about Microsoft's upcoming operating system "Windows 10". Apart from some confusion as to why it wasn't named "Windows 9", the main point of debate is Microsoft's odd departure from routine by putting out the beta version for scrutiny & improvement by the general public. Microsoft, like all top-of-the-line software manufacturers is normally very discrete about sharing its product information before its official launch because you never know when some competitor will tweak it a little & beat them to the market. While nobody knows the real reason why Microsoft has taken this out-of-the-box approach, the more sceptical section of the market analyst community is hinting that Microsoft 10 is probably even more error-ridden & clunky than its predecessor Microsoft 8.1, & the Microsoft 10 deadline being practically around the corner, the programmers at Microsoft are not sure they can work out the kinks in time by themselves.

Indeed, the one thing that most computer users hate most is sea changes in the basic working principles of a new operating system. Even self-proclaimed computer aficionados prefer their new operating systems to work along familiar lines so that they don't have to break stride in whatever they happen to be working on in order to spend at least a fortnight getting used to the quirks of a new OS. This is the main reason that Windows 7 is still the preferred choice over Windows 8.1. However, much to the computer user community's intense chagrin, Windows 10 is incorporating a whole slew of utterly alien features in replacement of the familiar & much-loved staples, some of which are as follows:

One OS

Microsoft representatives have not provided any clear explanation as to why, but Windows 10 will be a "universal OS" - that is, it will be compatible with desktops, laptops & palmtops; that is likely to cause a number of hiccups in the user experience because desktops run on flowing electricity only (unless connected with a UPS), laptops have in-built rechargeable batteries & palmtops work almost entirely on touch-screens. This means that desktops require voltage monitors (especially in Developing World nations like Pakistan), laptops require battery life indicators & palmtops work only on icon-based operating systems. If Microsoft is going to incorporate all these features into one OS, that automatically means that booting time will be noticeably longer than for operating systems that are tailor-made to suit individual machine categories.

Microsoft Edge

Microsoft has faced a mountain of lawsuits over the years alleging that including the Internet Explorer browser in every edition of its operating systems is a form of monopolization. It has braved every storm with such stoicism that even today, IE is the single most popular browser in the market. Granted, part of the reason is Google Chrome's tendency to crash every other day, but still, hats off to Microsoft for its singularity of purpose. So why oh why is the company side-lining such a well-loved product that is in no way waning in popularity to make way for a new browser? True, IE will also be available on Windows 10, but why bother with a new browser at all?

Compulsory Windows 10 Updates

Microsoft is probably hoping to straighten out any future problems that its Windows 10 clientèle may face, with its Windows Updates. Until now, these updates were optional; however, all Windows 10 users will have no choice but to download the updates whenever Microsoft releases them. The sceptics insinuate that the reason for this new policy is that Microsoft is secretly apprehensive that Windows 10 is likely to be even slower & more dissatisfying than Windows 8.1 & wishes to patch up the problems as they appear, without generating an uproar; but the problem with this approach is that many Developing World nations (once again, like Pakistan) have extremely slow (or sporadic) bandwidth & the afore-mentioned updates are going to be a long time downloading - which will be a strike against Windows 10 market share.

Opinions & Facts

The worldwide OS market is worth several billion US dollars per annum. According to website www.statista.com (one of the world's largest statistics portals), worldwide revenue hasn't dropped below US$30 billion since 2009; but it also shows another slightly disturbing point: worldwide revenues for 2013 were US$34.4 billion, while revenues registered for 2014 were US$32.8 billion - a drop of approximately 5%. If we base our analysis on Market Economics 101, which states that any change beyond 2% is cause for concern, then this decrease means that 2015 may not be the most profitable year for the launch of new operating systems.

Famous American financier Bernard Baruch once said, "Every man has a right to his own opinion, but no man has a right to be wrong in his facts."

While I am quite sure that the market analysts of Microsoft are perfectly competent & their assessments are based solidly on facts, my assessment of the same facts leads me to believe that Microsoft Windows 10 is not ready for its slated release on July 29, 2015. However, let us wait & see. After all, miracles can happen!

Pageview Analyzers & "The Golden Rule"

A Brief History Of Blogging

Once upon a time, blogging was considered the pastime of people with too much free time or too pronounced a desire for cheap popularity. It was the sole domain of people who thought the world wanted to see pictures of their pets or silly selfies of them wearing  funny items of clothing, etc. It never occurred to them that most people don't care in the slightest about information that doesn't make their lives better in some way. Finding out what a film star happens to be wearing is important because that is going to become the trend. But who cares for the wardrobe choices of the average blue or white collar worker?

After a few years of such uninteresting trash, blogging evolved & became a discussion platform for subjects like parenting, home-making, cooking, tailoring, etc. These topics are useful, but they are mostly the interest of housewives (because the professionals in these fields would rather not just give away the information they depend on for their living).

It is only in recent months that blogging has become a platform for technical & analytical subjects such as economics, business, law & diplomacy. The reason for that is the on-again-off-again methods of censorship that have sapped the majority of world newspapers of any originality & fresh perspective they offered to their readers. Such restraints have shifted market share to private analysts who are gradually fulfilling more & more of the responsibility of keeping the news interesting & informative.

The Fly In The Ointment

Marketing is very important. In print media, the tried-&-trusted method is advertisements in the papers, on the radio & on TV. For blogs, the only reliable methods to spread the word are emails to prospective readers or the right tags to "attract the attention" of the browser algorithms.

But, there is a creeping realization among bloggers in general that the number of pageviews generated by the proprietary algorithms of brands like Google & WordPress are far less than what they should be.

For example, I run two blogs: "The Green Town Investor" (the one you are reading right now) & "Satisficing Profits" (the link to which is displayed in the upper right corner of this website). While my immediate family consists of four people (my parents, my brother & me), I have a large extended family of uncles, aunts & cousins. Most of them keep in touch with my blogs from various parts of the world. In addition, I have readers from practically every corner of the world. But you would never guess that from the glacial pace at which my pageview counters move!

Web Log Analysis Software

According to Wikipedia, the definition of web log analysis software is as follows:

"Web log analysis software (also called a web log analyzer) is a kind of web analytics software that passes a server log file from a web server, & based on the values contained in the log file, derives indicators about when, how & by whom a web server is visited. Usually reports are generated from the log files immediately, but the log files can alternatively be passed for a database & reports generated on demand."

Now serious bloggers like me put a lot of thought & effort into our articles before we post them online. The obvious implication is that, if they are well-received, we have the right to get that information without having the inefficient algorithms of Google & WordPress watering down the numbers & making a respectable blog look like some forgotten porn site in a dusty corner of the Internet!

A List of Alternative Web Log Analyzers

There are a number of web log analyzers available for download on the Internet, both free & for a fee. The free ones are as follows:

1. Analog
Analog was first released on June 21, 1995. It is supported by Windows, Mac OS, Linux & the majority of Unix-like operating systems & is available in 35 languages. It commands a market share of about 25%.

2. AWStats
AWStats was first released on May 2, 2000. It is supported by almost every operating system, but works best for Linux systems.

3. CrawlTrack
CrawlTrack was released on November 26, 2011. It is supported by almost every operating system & is available in English, French, German, Spanish, Dutch & Turkish.

4. GoAccess
GoAccess was released on March 18, 2015. It offers a real time, interactive snapshot of the traffic on your site with information on everything from top visitors to geo location.

5. Open Web Analytics
OWA was released on May 4, 2014. It is supported by almost every operating system in the market. It is highly compatible with the WordPress & MediaWiki services & easily integrates with them.

6. Piwik
Piwik has been releasing updated versions of its software since late 2007, the latest being on April 30, 2015. It is currently used by over a million websites & is available in over 45 languages.

7. W3Perl
W3Perl, released on June 6, 2014, is written in the Perl computer language, which means that it will run on any Perl-supported operating system including Windows, Mac OS X & Unix.

8. Webalizer
Webalizer was released on August 26, 2013. It is supported by almost every operating system & is available in over 30 languages.

These are just the top free web log analyzers. For those who are willing to pay for better services, Wikipedia has compiled a separate list of another 25 services. You can view the list at the following address:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_web_analytics_software

Implications For The Established Brands

Google's 2014 annual revenue was an impressive US$66 billion, the majority of which is said to be derived from its AdWords service (an online advertising service that places advertisements near the search results, as well as on popular blogs - I know because I got the offer to split the profits of AdWords from Google about a month ago).

WordPress does not publish its financial information, but considering that it claims established brands like CNN as clients, it obviously must be making a pretty penny, too.

I suggest that they correct their pageview analyzer algorithms before these other services decide that their client base has grown big enough that they can afford to enter the blogging platform market.

We all know The Golden Rule: Whoever has the gold makes the rules.