According to the latest batch of documents released by Snowden, which was seen by the NRC, a daily evening newspaper, the NSA has 50000 sleeper agents waiting to be activated at the push of a button.

While these sleeper agents can be best described as lethal and can deliver a critical blow when activated, these aren’t people but computers that are infected with malware that don’t have a problem with conscience.

Apart from this, the NSA also infected 50000 networks to gain access to information that it isn’t allowed access to. However, this revelation comes as no surprise since the Washington Post had revealed that almost 20000 computers were already infected by 2008.

The “Computer Networks Exploitation” program or as it is known continues to be active around the world, especially in countries such as Brazil and Venezuela where the malware can be monitored and controlled at the switch of a button.

Best part: the malware will not be detectable in the countries mentioned above for a number of years to come.

Another report from the New York Times has also revealed that the NSA is doing all it can to increase its surveillance powers considering how online communication and digital technology is rapidly spreading across the world.

Yet what comes as a surprise is the method that the NSA is using in order to gain this information and that is by false email requests or phishing scams which is used by those who wish to spread malicious software. It’s definitely one more reason to avoid clicking on any email that is sent by anyone you don’t know.

The NSA declined to comment on the report published by the NRC.


Facebook, in an effort to help students prepare for a career as a software engineer, has launched Open Academy, which helps students get credit for contributing to open source projects.

In explaining the reason for the launch of Open Academy, Facebook reveals, “Software development as a profession has many features that are distinct from computer science as an academic subject. Projects are often larger than the people who participate in them; project management and interpersonal relationships can have as much impact on software design as technical issues; and systems are ultimately evaluated by user satisfaction rather than technical merit.”

Once a student signs up with Open Academy, they will be assigned to a project on which they will code with a mentor that has been picked for them as well. These mentors will give lectures, review students’ code as well as teach them about open source too.

This expansion which involves 22 other universities comes after its successful pilot with Stanford last year and now includes schools such as UC Berkeley, Carnegie Mellon and UPenn.

With the winter 2014 session beginning in February, both mentors and students will kick-off the semester with a visit to Facebook’s Menlo Park HQ and after which, they will work in virtual teams from their respective schools.

Of course, Facebook’s reason to launch such an initiative is not entirely altruistic in nature since it will also pave the way for top students from this program to work for Facebook once they graduate.

The company also offers computer science grants and conducts hackathons so as to edge out other tech giants in hiring the top talent in the industry every year.


By Ted Dhanik 

Display ads have become extremely commonplace today.  There are different types of display ads to choose from.  Contextual display advertisements match up with the content of a particular website in order to have the most success with potential clients.  For example, on a website featuring vacation packaged deals, the display ads might include similar packaged deals.

Advertisers can make incredibly engaging and interesting ads, but if they aren’t placed in front of the right people, then it’s all for nothing.  Contextual advertising works in a particular way.  A contextual advertising system works by scanning the texts of different websites.  The system searches for specific words and phrases.  Through this system, the ad will find sites that relate to the material or message of the ad.  Once the system finds the right websites, the ads will be placed on the site featuring the company’s products or services.

Contextual ads are often combined with category ads.  While contextual ads tend to match up directly with the website content, category ads tend to be related to the website content in a more general way.  For example, a website for hair products might feature ads for face creams,  moisturizers, and perfumes.  These products are all targeted towards the same demographic: women.

Marketing and advertising have been shown to be more successful when they are tailored towards a specific demographic.  It is difficult for advertisers to make an ad that is successful with general audiences.  This special kind of tailor-made ad is something that is not offered offline.  Therefore, online display ads have a major advantage over offline ads.

 

Author bio: Guest post is provided by the president and co-founder of engage:BDR, Ted Dhanik.  Dhanik has worked for big names such as Beyond.com, Xoriant Corporation, Nextag.com, and even Myspace.  Ted Dhanik has over fifteen years of experience in marketing, business sales, and business development.  Ted Dhanik leads the way in advertising solutions.


If you’re looking for Oakland technology consulting, Los Angeles colocation sites or IT services Long Beach companies can trust, you have a long list to go through in southern California. Consider the below before making your final decision and it will be a much easier one.

It’s tough to beat experience as a qualification. When it comes to something as important as IT services, you’ll most likely want a company that has been in the business for a while. This means they not only understand IT, they understand handling it for another company.

While experience is great, it’s important to know how that experience was for the other side. Ask for references, especially for companies they’re still working for. Also, do an online search to get more information about potential candidates.

Many providers in southern California are simply individuals who do so as independent contractors. There’s nothing wrong with this; in fact, it could save you money. However, you should ask them what their plan is for helping you if one of their other clients needs something at the same time. One advantage with hiring a company is that you know they’ll have enough people for you.

Lastly, it’s important you get a feeling for how you’ll work with this company or individual. IT issues can be frustrating at times; it’s best you hire someone who won’t add to the problem.

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Article submitted by Calnet technology group. The company provides businesses in Orange County IT support services they need.


The photovoltaic industry is always on the cutting edge of technology. If you work in the solar industry, you’re going to need advanced equipment for a variety of operations. Some of the processes within the solar industry include sputtering, thermal evaporation, e-beam deposition, and PECVD.

Do you need a sputtering system that sputters front and back metal contacts? Do you need a research-scale thermal evaporation system that supports active CIGS layer deposition? Or, are you searching for a system that offers the latest capabilities in plasma-enhanced chemical vapor it’s important to find the right system to get the job done. But with so many products on the market, it can be difficult to narrow your search to the right system. Here’s a look at the Explorer system, ideal for the solar industry.

Designed by Denton Vacuum, LLC, the Explorer is a thin film deposition platform that boasts the widest range of configurations and deposition modalities in the thin film industry. It offers electron beam evaporation, resistance evaporation, sputtering, ion plating, and ion assisted deposition.

When it comes to sputtering, the Explorer is able to sputter dieletric, magnetic, and composite materials. Clients can choose to add flexible cathodes that adjust to the impingement angle. The Explorer also boasts a powerful control system that is available in semi-manual or fully automatic mode. The system can be upgraded with consistent controls, standard software, source code, and network capabilities. When it comes to pumping configurations, the Explorer delivers a variety of diffusion, cryogenic, and turbo pump configurations.

This blog has been sponsored by Denton Vacuum, LLC, makers of advanced thin film technology. Denton Vacuum designs and creates vacuum coating systems, precision-coat aerospace components, advanced optics, medical implants, solar cells, semiconductor devices and much more.