Nissan Juke-R, a 570-hp Babyzilla: Motoramic Drives

Lilly is not pretty. Rather tall and ungainly, she towers over the other models Nissan brought to the high-performance track at the quadrennial “Nissan 360” worldwide media program, hosted this time at the Great Park of Orange County, Calif., formerly known as El Toro Marine Base.

But Lilly is an object of lust such that this writer, and many other car wags lucky enough to get near her, will never forget.

“Lilly,” is a Nissan Juke-R, the first one ever built, and one of only four in existence. We’re not really sure who asked the question that resulted in the creation of the Juke-R, but we’re relatively sure it started with “Gee, wouldn’t it be funny if we stuffed the rip-snortin’ twin-turbocharged V-6 engine and all-wheel drivetrain of our insanely fast GT-R supercar to the body and interior of the tiny Juke crossover?” Or perhaps it was one steely-eyed engineer looking across the table at another, saying, “I double dog dare you to turn a Juke into a GT-R.”

However the proposition was made, the outcome is exactly that: a Juke with the soul of a GT-R. When the Juke-R was first announced about two years ago, Nissan called it the “first super-crossover.” But just as the GT-R is nicknamed “Godzilla” by its cult-like fan base, the Juke-R soon became affectionately known as “Babyzilla.” And like Japan’s most famous lizard, the Juke-R is the stuff of legends.

Initially, Nissan and partner Ray Mallock Ltd. (RML) built just two Juke-Rs: “Lilly" and her brother, “Max,” as they are called by their handler, Xavi Cànovas (yes, these cars have their own handler, just like rock stars). Lilly was built using the GT-R’s turbocharged 3.8-liter V-6, which at the time made 485 hp and came mated to a dual-clutch manu-matic transmission and wide, GT-R-based all-wheel-drive underpinnings. The width of the running gear required a completely new floor and wide fender extensions to accommodate the 20-inch wheels and tires. A wild body kit was fitted and all was painted a wicked matte black. At some point, Lilly got a powertrain upgrade. “Rumor has it she’s at about 570 hp, but I don’t know that for sure,” said a Nissan spokesman.

Suffice it to say, Lilly is a badass.

Once word got out about how great the Juke-R turned out, Nissan cobbled together two more for a wealthy customer in the Middle East. Nissan determined that there was sufficient interest for a small production run, and plans to build 23 Juke-Rs in total at a price of $660,000 each.

So it’s rare. Even for automotive journalists, seeing a Juke-R in the flesh is the equivalent of seeing a unicorn, and being offered a chance to actually drive one is akin to grabbing that unicorn’s horn, hopping on and flying through a double rainbow. Yet there she was, sitting on a tarmac in the 90-degree California heat next to two stock GT-Rs, steaming and crackling, waiting for us to take a spin. A flurry of engineers inspected this and that, keeping her in shape between hot laps of the short road coarse Nissan set up on base. I would have one short lap to see what tricks Lilly had up her sleeve.

When my turn came, I strapped on my helmet and rushed out between the snarling GT-Rs toward Mr. Cànovas, standing by the open driver’s side door of the Juke. Ingress/egress is rather trickier in the Juke-R than the standard Juke, thanks to its heavily bolstered racing seat and full roll cage blocking some of the door opening (oh, and don’t even think about putting someone in back). Once I folded myself through the door and flopped into the seat, Cànovas adjusted my seat to ensure perfect pedal placement and telescoped the steering wheel to meet my arms. A brief scan of the interior revealed many parts I recognized from the standard Juke (dashboard, door panels, and other trim bits) and other parts that clearly came from the GT-R (sequential transmission shifter, GT-R instrument cluster, and grippy, contoured steering wheel). I shook the hand of the pro driver who would be my guide around the short road course as the four-point racing harness was clasped together at my midriff.

After that, things get a bit blurry, but here’s what I remember: I placed the sequential manual transmission in drive, gripped the wheel, stepped on the go-pedal and shot out of the pits toward the first turn. Immediately, I felt a visceral connection to the road such that I have never felt in a production car before. Indeed, Lilly may be based on two production cars, but as my confidence built over the next few turns, which were accompanied by absolutely zero body roll and spectacular steering feel, I began to connect with it in ways I have only experienced in a racecar. Acceleration is instant — the “shot out of a cannon” cliché is absolutely fitting here — and the deceleration, facilitated by massively powerful brakes, is just as sudden. I was even able to cajole the back end around a touch for a nice polite drift, just as would be possible in the incredible GT-R.

And then the lap was over. Suddenly, we were back in the pits and I was climbing back out through the roll cage bars, panting as I walked around for one more lustful look at Lilly’s decidedly unbeautiful face. The whole encounter lasted maybe a minute, but long enough to leave me awestruck of this wacky machine, and wondering how I could score a second date.

Data Security Problem is getting worse, Proven by the Reports

The headlines have been dominated by the news of data breaches when Edward Snowden stole the confidential data from the database of NSA (National Security Agency) and publicized it. Other than that famous incident of data theft, there have been a number of data breach cases have been registered this year as well as the past year. It is not necessary that the online crooks hack the database just to steal data. The cyber criminals (hackers) perform some activities to grasp the attention of the media or to steal some information with mal intentions. However, whatever the intentions of these hackers are, it harms the owner of the data a lot. The Verizon Risk Team writes in their report of data breach 2013 that from pubs to the public agencies, mother and father or the multinational companies, nobody is untouched from this increasing problem of data breach. People had the wrong perception sometime back that the hackers target a particular entity and perform their dark activities. But, now, the trends have revealed that hackers do not specifically target anyone, they try to get into a number of different databases at once, the information storage that had the weakest security measures become hackers’ prey.

However, there are some specified data theft attempts in which the cyber criminals targeted a particular company and won their reward. The multinational companies have better security measures, so, there is a greater risk of getting caught than of the ordinary small scale company, that is why, smaller companies are the one who repeatedly become a data breach victim. Some of the big names that have become a victim of data breach include TJX Companies Org.; Sony, AOL, Monster.com and many others. But, in the majority of cases, the hackers were later sentenced heavy imprisonments and fines. According to the Verizon report, almost 52 percent of the data breach cases occurred in 2012 was the result of hacking. About 48 percent of the information theft cases occurred was a result of malware.  There were more than 45000 of the of the records breach in just 621 cases of data breaches. The majority of the cases that took place were due to the lack of strong security measures. The low security was due to the carelessness of the companies and the individuals that became the victims of data breach. In the modern era of technology, the data security is not that expensive or technical issue. To give your data reliable security, you may security software that cans Lock Folders. Currently, the data breach is one of the precious assets of the business as well as the individuals. The loss of data can haunt you for weeks, months or even years. An incident of data breach can make you suffer financial loss, reputation loss, and other such losses. The biggest loss that businesses suffer due to data breach is the loss of clients’ confidence; it is an irrecoverable and a long term loss. Taking some precautions is better than the regret.

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http://www.newsoftwares.net/folderlock/

Ten Reasons To Love The Xbox One Operating System

Sony’s PlayStation family received a majority of the positive attention from Gamescom this week, but Microsoft also deserves special mention for an important reason: the Xbox One operating system. It’s still in a pre-release state, though you’d easily mistake it for a finished product. Its design and functionality are a huge improvement over Xbox 360’s current OS. There’s a lot to like about the new direction Microsoft has taken for Xbox One that should please developers and players alike.

Redesigned Metro User Interface
Microsoft’s go to, boxy aesthetic exists in many forms, but it’s never looked as refined as it does in the current version of the Xbox One interface. The home screen gives priority to apps rather than Marketplace recommendations, and individual menu panes are streamlined, favoring clutter in place of large panels. It even looks like the dashboard has been cut down to three pages, rather than the usual eight; a page for pinned items and system apps, the home screen, and another for the Xbox Marketplace.

[More on GameSpot: Madden 25 Anniversary Edition Amazon's best-selling preorder sports game ever]

Quick Response Time
The demo that was shown during Gamescom featured a few developer friendly debug items on screen, but the most prominent bit of exposed console code was the measured response times that would pop-up when switching pages, loading apps, or inputting voice commands. In every case, the Xbox One flew through these tasks in less than 9/10 of a second. Though there aren’t accurate timings to measure it against, in practice, Xbox One makes Xbox 360’s dashboard look as slow as molasses.

Developers Can Add Achievements Post-Release
Where developers had been locked into setting achievements before shipping the final version of their games in the past, they now have the ability to modify or add new achievements at their discretion on Xbox One. This could lead to special events or daily challenges that could extend the life of a game, plus, with the prominence of people combing leaked achievement lists in search of spoilers, developers have the ability to control when this information becomes public domain.

1000 Friends, Unlimited Followers
It’s well known that the friend lists have been extended from 100 to 1000 entries for the latest Xbox, but what’s news is the ability to follow people through a system that functions like Twitter. You may not make the cut on Major Nelson’s friend list, for example, but you will be able to track what games he plays, the achievements he earns, and sort through his video uploads, assuming allows them to be viewable by the public.

Six profiles can be signed in at once.
The Xbox 360 currently allows up to four profiles to be active at the same time on a single console, but not so with the Xbox One. Even if you have just a single controller actively connected to the console, you can sign six people in at the same time. All you have to do is use the Kinect’s voice recognition feature to sign in.

[More on GameSpot: Gamescom attendance hits 340,000]

Individual Speech Profiles
When multiple people are signed into the same Xbox One, it can recognize which person in a group is talking to the Kinect, and display that individuals’ information (achievements, friends, games, apps) rather than divert to the first player by default. Unfortunately, due to privacy concerns, speech recognition profiles do not carry over to the cloud for use on other Xbox One consoles.

Advanced Voice Commands With Kinect
The new Kinect looks ready to make navigating the system and multitasking a relative breeze compared to the current limitations of the Xbox 360. You’re no longer limited to only switching dashboard pages, searching via Bing, or playing a disc. You can now launch apps and games by name, enter text, and control other devices such as your TV or home entertainment system.

Powerful, Universal IR Blaster
The trick to the Xbox One’s ability to control other devices lies in a powerful infrared signal blaster position atop the Kinect. Much like a universal remote, it comes preloaded with the proper codes for remote controllable devices from a wide range of manufacturers, and don’t be surprised if you can manually configure new devices that aren’t supported out of the box. When it comes to the power of the IR blaster, note that it was placed beneath the TV during the demo, yet it was still able to adjust the volume on the TV. Unlike a common remote control, it doesn’t have to point directly at the device due to the strength and breadth of its IR broadcast.

Multitasking Through App Snapping
One of the most useful features found in the new OS is the ability to multitask. Yes, this means running instances of certain apps in the background, but it also refers to the system’s ability to run two pieces of software side-by-side on the same screen by snapping one to the right edge. You won’t be able to play two games at once, but you will be able to load Bing, YouTube, and other useful apps alongside any other activity. What’s more: some apps (Halo Waypoint, as an example), can work in conjunction with games to enhance the overall gameplay experience.

Simple, Streamlined Video Sharing
Without any input from the player, Xbox One automatically records the last 30 minutes of gameplay. With the simple command, “Xbox, upload video”, the video upload app snaps to the screen and allows you to choose any five minute stretch from the last 30 minutes of gameplay to upload for friends and followers. Though the Xbox One is locked to 1080p at 60 frames per second, the file that’s uploaded to your live account is a 720p file at 30 FPS. The video bitrate is unknown at the moment, but it appeared clear and free of any noticeable compression artifacts during the Gamescom demo. It’s also unclear how many videos users will be able to store in their live account.

Some of the Common Channels of Data Leakage

The problem of data breach has become universal and it is getting severe and severe every day. There are different channels from which data gets leaked. Most commonly, data is leaked through hackers’ attacks. When you talk about the data breach, the first thing that will pop up in the mind of a layman would be hackers’ attacks. Statistics reveal that almost 38 percent of the data is leaked only due to the attacks on the database by the cyber criminals. This kind of data breach also proves to be the costliest one as it can make you suffer a loss in millions of Dollars and it has proven itself several times in the past.

Another big source of losing data is through the portable data storing devices such as USB flash drive. The USB flash drive sizes not more than a couple of inches, still, it has a great capability of storing huge amount of data. Due to its small size, these small portable data storing devices are extremely difficult to keep safe, as it is prone to getting lost or stolen. Surveys have proven that a quite high percentage of lost or stolen USB flash drives contain unsecured confidential data. These devices do not have much built in security measures that can make the data secure, so, the data saved in them can easily be fetched out.

Nowadays, you see almost everybody holding a smartphone. These smartphone has become an accessory as well as a bit of necessity as it can perform quite bit functions of a computer. iPhone tops the list of smartphones. Every year, hundreds and thousands of iPhones gets lost or stolen. As people also use this smartphone as a portable data storing device from which they can operate their data too, so there is a fair possibility of leaking data if someone loses his/her iPhone. It has also become a big source of losing data.

IT experts have started to rate the insider employees of a company as a big source of data breach. The employees of the companies intentionally or unintentionally leak data. They may send an unencrypted email to some wrong email address with sensitive data attached to it or may lose their USB flash drive. However, employees can also dig out desired data from the computer and can carry it out of the company in his/her USB flash drive. Data can be sold to the rival companies or other competitors who will pay a handsome amount to get this data. Confidential data of a company can benefit the rival a lot.

You have only seen about 270 days of this year, and it is a short span of time, more than 212 incidents of data breach have been reported. If we make a rough estimate, there is an incident of data breach almost each day of the year. The use of Data Security Software has become absolutely necessary; otherwise, companies have to suffer heavy losses due to these data breach incidents. The company can suffer financial loss due to the heavy penalties imposed by the legislative bodies. The companies who suffer data loss are most likely to lose the confidence of their clients and may lose their goodwill in the market. All in all, data breach can be disastrous for a company.

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http://www.newsoftwares.net/

The Reason Why IT Experts Rate USB Drive as a Big Threat

The thumb sized portable data storing device has become a fashionable accessory that is available in the market in different colors, shapes and designs. It is as small as a human thumb and it has the capability of storing data in gigabytes. Having these characteristics, still, the small portable data storing device are extremely affordable that it is quite often distributed at conventions conferences and other such festivals. The popularity of USB flash drives is based on the three qualities i.e. portability, affordability and capability to store huge amount of data. But, the IT security experts see this trend of increase in the usage of the USB memory stick as a beginning of a disaster.

Due to the small size of a couple inches, this portable drive has a few names such as thumb drive, jump drive, pen drive or flash drive. Being so small, it has the capability of storing data up to 64GB and even more. These USB flash drives have become so common that it is making IT security experts uncomfortable. The experts give their view as the more common this drive will get, the more it will be lost or stolen and will infect more computers. The small portable drives have become so popular that cyber criminals are using them as a medium to spread malicious programs so that they can achieve their target easily.

The USB flash drives do not only impose a threat to data in the shape of a medium of spreading malware, the bigger issue with these memory sticks is that these are very much prone to getting lost or stolen. Every thousand of such USB flash drives are lost, and the majority of them do not have much security measures. If the USB drive is equipped with software that cans Password Protect USB can helpful in making data secure. Data is a precious asset; it requires a proper security plan and policies, if the information gets leaked, it can make you suffer a heavy loss.

For More Information Please Visit:

http://www.newsoftwares.net/usb-secure/