Download Indian Rupee Font for Free

Want to download the Indian Rupee symbol font and test drive it on your computer? Thanks to Foradian Technologies, you can do just that.
Although it would take time for the Indian Rupee (INR) symbol (approved by the Indian cabinet) to find its way in PC and laptop keyboards, mobile phone keypads, and other computing devices, Foradian Technologies has wasted no time in giving users an early glimpse into how the Indian Rupee font will look on the PC.

Download the TrueType Font (.ttf) for the Indian Rupee Symbol from Foradian Technologies' website for free and give it a try. By default, the Indian Rupee font is mapped to the grave accent (`) symbol on your PC's keyboard and you can use the Indian currency font immediately after installing it -- just drag the Rupee font to Windows' Font folder. The website also has an installation tutorial in case you need help installing the Indian Rupee font.
The font works well, to say the least, and looks good.
Check out and download the latest version of the free Indian Rupee font.

5 Reasons why Linux is Secure than Windows

"Security through obscurity" may be a catchy phrase, but it's not the only thing that's catching among Windows users.
The expression is intended to suggest that proprietary software is more secure by virtue of its closed nature. If hackers can't see the code, then it's harder for them to create exploits for it--or so the thinking goes.
Unfortunately for Windows users, that's just not true--as evidenced by the never-ending parade of patches coming out of Redmond. In fact, one of Linux's many advantages over Windows is that it is more secure--much more. For small businesses and other organizations without a dedicated staff of security experts, that benefit can be particularly critical.
Five key factors underlie Linux's superior security:
1. Privileges
Linux systems are by no means infallible, but one of their key advantages lies in the way account privileges are assigned. In Windows, users are generally given administrator access by default, which means they pretty much have access to everything on the system, even its most crucial parts. So, then, do viruses. It's like giving terrorists high-level government positions.
With Linux, on the other hand, users do not usually have such "root" privileges; rather, they're typically given lower-level accounts. What that means is that even if a Linux system is compromised, the virus won't have the root access it would need to do damage systemwide; more likely, just the user's local files and programs would be affected. That can make the difference between a minor annoyance and a major catastrophe in any business setting.
2. Social Engineering
Viruses and worms often spread by convincing computer users to do something they shouldn't, like open attachments that carry viruses and worms. This is called social engineering, and it's all too easy on Windows systems. Just send out an e-mail with a malicious attachment and a subject line like, "Check out these adorable puppies!"--or the porn equivalent--and some proportion of users is bound to click without thinking. The result? An open door for the attached malware, with potentially disastrous consequences organizationwide.
Thanks to the fact that most Linux users don't have root access, however, it's much harder to accomplish any real damage on a Linux system by getting them to do something foolish. Before any real damage could occur, a Linux user would have to read the e-mail, save the attachment, give it executable permissions and then run the executable. Not very likely, in other words.
3. The Monoculture Effect
However you want to argue the exact numbers, there's no doubt that Microsoft Windows still dominates most of the computing world. In the realm of e-mail, so too do Outlook and Outlook Express. And therein lies a problem: It's essentially a monoculture, which is no better in technology than it is in the natural world. Just as genetic diversity is a good thing in the natural world because it minimizes the deleterious effects of a deadly virus, so a diversity of computing environments helps protect users.
Fortunately, a diversity of environments is yet another benefit that Linux offers. There's Ubuntu, there's Debian, there's Gentoo, and there are many other distributions. There are also many shells, many packaging systems, and many mail clients; Linux even runs on many architectures beyond just Intel. So, whereas a virus can be targeted squarely at Windows users, since they all use pretty much the same technology, reaching more than a small faction of Linux users is much more difficult. Who wouldn't want to give their company that extra layer of assurance?
4. Audience Size
Hand-in-hand with this monoculture effect comes the not particularly surprising fact that the majority of viruses target Windows, and the desktops in your organization are no exception. Millions of people all using the same software make an attractive target for malicious attacks.
5. How Many Eyeballs
"Linus' Law"--named for Linus Torvalds, the creator of Linux--holds that, "given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow." What that means is that the larger the group of developers and testers working on a set of code, the more likely any flaws will be caught and fixed quickly. This, in other words, is essentially the polar opposite of the "security through obscurity" argument.
With Windows, it's a limited set of paid developers who are trying to find problems in the code. They adhere to their own set timetables, and they don't generally tell anyone about the problems until they've already created a solution, leaving the door open to exploits until that happens. Not a very comforting thought for the businesses that depend on that technology.
In the Linux world, on the other hand, countless users can see the code at any time, making it more likely that someone will find a flaw sooner rather than later. Not only that, but users can even fix problems themselves. Microsoft may tout its large team of paid developers, but it's unlikely that team can compare with a global base of Linux user-developers around the globe. Security can only benefit through all those extra "eyeballs."
Once again, none of this is to say that Linux is impervious; no operating system is. And there are definitely steps Linux users should take to make their systems as secure as possible, such as enabling a firewall, minimizing the use of root privileges, and keeping the system up to date. For extra peace of mind there are also virus scanners available for Linux, including ClamAV. These are particularly good measures for small businesses, which likely have more at stake than individual users do.
It's also worth noting that security firm Secunia recently declared that Apple products have more security vulnerabilities than any others--including Microsoft's.
Either way, however, when it comes to security, there's no doubt that Linux users have a lot less to worry about.

HP and Hynix - Bringing the memristor to market in next-generation memory

Memristor memory chips promise to run at least ten times faster and use ten times less power than an equivalent Flash memory chip
HP announced a joint development agreement with Hynix Semiconductor Inc., to develop a new kind of computer memory – one that will employ memristor technology pioneered by researchers at HP Labs.

This memory, called ReRAM, holds the potential to surpass Flash in terms of affordability, total capacity, speed, energy efficiency, and endurance.

And its potential doesn’t stop there. “We believe that the memristor is a universal memory technology that over time could replace Flash, DRAM, and even hard drives,” says Stan Williams, HP Senior Fellow and founding Director of the Information and Quantum Systems Lab (IQSL).

But what is a memristor and how might it change the evolution of information technology?

A short history on memristor
Previous to the prediction of the memristor by Prof. Leon Chua of UC Berkeley in 1971, there were three recognized passive circuit elements: the resistor, capacitor, and inductor. These three passive elements have provided the fundamental building blocks on which all electronic circuits today are based.

HP’s demonstration that so-called ReRAM (resistive-RAM) devices were actually memristors provided the mathematical foundation for completely new types of electronics.

What is “Flash memory”?
Flash is a type of solid-state storage commonly used in mobile phones, mp3 players, and some laptops (among other devices).

What is ReRAM?
The agreement between HP and Hynix will see them jointly developing memristor technology in the form of Resistive Random Access Memory (ReRAM). ReRAM is a non-volatile memory built using materials that change resistance when a voltage is applied across them.

“People have been attempting to make resistive memory for a long time,” explains Williams. “But because they didn’t understand that the devices they had were memristors, they weren’t making good progress. Once you understand the mathematical framework for memristors, you can design circuits that perform the way they are intended to perform.”

What will be the first device using memristors?
In the near term, the most obvious application for memristor technology is as a replacement for Flash memory. “Memristor memory chips promise to run at least ten times faster and use ten times less power than an equivalent Flash memory chip,” says Williams.

Experiments in his lab also suggest that memristor memory can be erased and written over many more times than flash memory. And on top of that, says Williams, “we believe we can create memristor ReRAM products that, at any price point, will have twice the capacity of flash memory.”

What does this mean for my laptop or smartphone?
Memristors can retain information even when the power is off and are highly energy efficient. This means that your laptop could boot up much faster and last longer on one charge since it consumes less energy. Given the number and sophistication of apps running on smartphones, this should also significantly extend the usable time between charges.

In the future, because both compute and memory functions could be conducted within the same chip, this also means that laptops and smartphones could be much thinner and much faster than they are now. (Why? Because data have less distance to travel since memory and logic are performed on the same chip

How does this benefit HP and open industry standards?
“Almost every product offered by HP uses memory in some fashion: PC’s, phones, printers, servers, storage, networking and so on,” notes Williams. He suggests that the company can use its unique insight into memristor to bring highly differentiated products to market before its rivals.

At the same time, says Williams, HP isn’t planning to become a memory chip maker itself, or to restrict the licensing of its memristor technology.

“Our long term goal,” he explains, “is to see this technology spread through the entire IT ecosystem.”
What is the advantage of memristors?
Laboratory trials conducted at HP Labs have shown that memristor ReRAM circuits require less energy to operate, are faster, and have higher endurance than Flash, and these advantages are anticipated to increase into the future.

Since memristors are based on a thin film technology, the memory elements can be easily stacked on top of each other, and thus more bits can be built onto a single chip. They also are virtually immune to interference from ionizing radiation – making them attractive for inclusion in ever-smaller but ever-more-powerful devices.

Still, the memristor is a relatively recent discovery and new properties are yet to be found.

Research from the HP Labs IQSL team published earlier this year showed that, in addition to acting as memory devices, memristors can also perform logic functions. This suggests that computation might eventually be performed where data is stored, something that could result in computers running significantly faster than at present since data will not have to be passed around among multiple chips.

Are there potential future uses for memristors in ”artificial intelligence”?
Memristors fundamentally operate in a similar fashion as the biological synapses in the human brain.

One potential application of memristor technology would be an 'artificial synapse' in a circuit designed for analog computation. Professor Leon Chua at the University of Berkeley, who first postulated the memristor in 1971, is currently pursuing research in this area.

“Professor Chua himself pointed out the connection between the properties of his proposed memristor and those of a synapse in his earliest papers,” says Stan Williams, HP Senior Fellow and Director of the Information and Quantum Systems Lab, HP Labs. “We also think that this is a very interesting and potentially valuable research direction.”

HP’s research has revived Chua’s own interest in memristors. He was recently awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship to pursue the application of memristor technology in artificial intelligence and neural computing.