Tuesday, September 29, 2015

RSA & Diffie-Hellman proves P does not equal NP

Vinay Deolalikar, a mathematician who works for HP Labs, claims to have proven that P is not equal to NP. The problem is the greatest unsolved problem in theoretical computer science and is one of seven problems in which the Clay Mathematics Institute has offered million dollar prizes to the solutions.
The question of whether P equals NP essentially asks whether there exist problems which take a long time to solve but whose solutions can be checked quickly. More formally, a problem is said to be in P if there is a program for a Turing machine, an ideal theoretical computer with unbounded amounts of memory, such that running instances of the problem through the program will always answer the question in polynomial time — time always bounded by some fixed polynomial power of the length of the input. A problem is said to be in NP, if the problem can be solved in polynomial time when instead of being run on a Turing machine, it is run on a non-deterministic Turing machine, which is like a Turing machine but is able to make copies of itself to try different approaches to the problem simultaneously.
Mathematicians have long believed that P does not equal NP, and the question has many practical implications. Much of modern cryptography, such as the RSA algorithm and the Diffie-Hellman algorithm, rests on certain problems, such as factoring integers, being in NP and not in P. If it turned out that P=NP, these methods would not work but many now difficult problems would likely be easy to solve. If P does not equal NP then many natural, practical problems such as the traveling salesman problem are intrinsically difficult.
In 2000, the Clay Foundation listed the “Clay Millenium Problems,” seven mathematical problems each of which they would offer a million dollars for a correct solution. One of these problems was whether P equaled NP. Another of these seven, the PoincarĂ© conjecture, was solved in 2002 by Grigori Perelman who first made headlines for solving the problem and then made them again months later for refusing to take the prize money.
On August 7, mathematician Greg Baker noted on his blog that he had seen a draft of a claimed proof by Deolalikar although among experts a draft had apparently been circulating for a few days. Deolalikar’s proof works by connecting certain ideas in computer science and finite model theory to ideas in statistical mechanics. The proof works by showing that if certain problems known to be in NP were also in P then those problems would have impossible statistical properties. Computer scientists and mathematicians have expressed a variety of opinions about Deolalikar’s proof, ranging from guarded optimism to near certainty that the proof is incorrect. Scott Aaronson of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has expressed his pessimism by stating that he will give $200,000 of his own money to Deolalikar if the proof turns out to be valid. Others have raised specific technical issues with the proof but noted that the proof attempt presented interesting new techniques that might be relevant to computer science whether or not the proof turns out to be correct. Richard Lipton, a professor of computer science at Georgia Tech, has said that “the author certainly shows awareness of the relevant obstacles and command of literature supporting his arguments.” Lipton has listed four central objections to the proof, none of which are necessarily fatal but may require more work to address. On August 11, 2010, Lipton reported that consensus of the reviewers was best summarized by mathematician Terence Tao, who expressed the view that Deolalikar’s paper probably did not give a proof that P!=NP even after major changes, unless substantial new ideas are added., and the question has many practical implications. Much of modern cryptography, such as the RSA algorithm and the Diffie-Hellman algorithm, rests on certain problems, such as factoring integers, being in NP and not in P. If it turned out that P=NP, these methods would not work but many now difficult problems would likely be easy to solve. If P does not equal NP then many natural, practical problems such as the traveling salesman problem are intrinsically difficult.
In 2000, the Clay Foundation listed the “Clay Millenium Problems,” seven mathematical problems each of which they would offer a million dollars for a correct solution. One of these problems was whether P equaled NP. Another of these seven, the PoincarĂ© conjecture, was solved in 2002 by Grigori Perelman who first made headlines for solving the problem and then made them again months later for refusing to take the prize money.
On August 7, mathematician Greg Baker noted on his blog that he had seen a draft of a claimed proof by Deolalikar although among experts a draft had apparently been circulating for a few days. Deolalikar’s proof works by connecting certain ideas in computer science and finite model theory to ideas in statistical mechanics. The proof works by showing that if certain problems known to be in NP were also in P then those problems would have impossible statistical properties. Computer scientists and mathematicians have expressed a variety of opinions about Deolalikar’s proof, ranging from guarded optimism to near certainty that the proof is incorrect. Scott Aaronson of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has expressed his pessimism by stating that he will give $200,000 of his own money to Deolalikar if the proof turns out to be valid. Others have raised specific technical issues with the proof but noted that the proof attempt presented interesting new techniques that might be relevant to computer science whether or not the proof turns out to be correct. Richard Lipton, a professor of computer science at Georgia Tech, has said that “the author certainly shows awareness of the relevant obstacles and command of literature supporting his arguments.” Lipton has listed four central objections to the proof, none of which are necessarily fatal but may require more work to address. On August 11, 2010, Lipton reported that consensus of the reviewers was best summarized by mathematician Terence Tao, who expressed the view that Deolalikar’s paper probably did not give a proof that P!=NP even after major changes, unless substantial new ideas are added.

Wednesday, September 16, 2015

i hate game stop

My parents came to my house and said I have 300 games over what I should have. That doesn’t bother me. What bothers me is that Game Stop lies about console sales. The
Internet says Wii U is dead, and Game Stop clerks says Wii U is increasing sales
and thier best month was August. I hope Game Stop goes out of business. They
lie, their used games are too expensive, and the Internet bandwidth caps prevent me
from downloading online over 5 gb). So of course I walked out without buying any videogame.
I love The Videogame Critic.The video game industry is maturing—fast. The average age
of a “gamer,” that is, someone who plays video games on a regular basis,
is now 37, according to the Entertainment Software Association, an
industry trade group. That’s up from last year, when the average came in
at around 35 years old.
Surprised? Don’t be. After all, these “greying gamers”
were the first generation to grow up with video games as children. As
they’ve aged, many apparently kept on playing, delving even deeper into
the gaming abyss through consoles, PCs, and now their mobile devices.
If you care to see this older, dare I say, more “refined” sort of gamer, then make your way out west this week to this
year’s E3 Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, the gaming
industry’s biggest trade show. There you will see plenty of Gen X’ers
and Gen Y’ers (is that still a thing?) milling about, many sporting
unkempt beards and ironic t-shirts like it’s 2007. Apparently, shaving
and adhering to current fashion norms takes way too much time and
effort, time away from Assassin’s Creed 32, or some other “new”
iteration of a once popular gaming title.
But this older generation of gamers is both a blessing and
a curse for the industry. It is a blessing in that as they age, their
pockets get deeper, so they potentially have more money to spend on
their hobby (assuming they don’t get married and have kids, which,
unsurprisingly, many don’t). But it is also a curse, because the
industry seems stuck in a time warp.
Simply put, content makers, many of whom are greying
gamers themselves, have become lazy. They have failed to innovate on
both the hardware and content side of the business, alienating potential
young consumers while angering older gamers who crave something newer
than just another Call of Duty. Each new game “unveiled” this week in
Los Angeles will almost undoubtedly be a mashup of characters and scenes
derived from popular movie franchises that debuted in the late 1990s
and early 2000s, such as The Matrix, Starship Troopers, The Terminator,
Sailor Moon, and The Hobbit, with a dash of The Fast and the Furious
thrown in for good measure. It is getting old.
The result of all this nostalgic and creative laziness
is a shrinking market. Video game sales in the U.S. actually peaked in
2010, at $17 billion, and have fallen progressively ever since, hitting
just $15.4 billion in 2014, according to NPD Group. This is expected to
continue unless the industry finds a new life source, and fast.
To be sure, this drop-off isn’t just because younger
people don’t watch TV or because they are Snapchatting or whatever all
day on their mobile phones. They aren’t interested because the content
doesn’t speak to them. While mobile is the “fastest” growing segment of
the industry, it is inherently backwards looking given the technological
and ergonomic constraints of the market. Either the games have to be
terribly simple (and forgettable), like Candy Crush, or they have to be
stripped down (worse) versions of console games.
But the industry feels compelled to “capture” this market
nonetheless, diverting precious resources that would be better spent
advancing the core gaming market. For example, on Sunday evening,
Bethesda Game Studios, a major game developer, showed off its newest
iteration of its popular “Fallout” series, Fallout 4, but also revealed a
new Fallout mobile game, ostensibly to “capture” the yet unnamed
generation of kids today. Todd Howard, director of Bethesda Gaming, said
the mobile Fallout version was “inspired by games we love going back 30
years,” and that gamers will see inspirations from older retro games
like X-com, SimCity, and FTL, which are, “games we really really like.” I
think that says it all.
As the show rolls on this week, it would be nice to see
some real innovation in the core gaming product, as well as some fresh
content aimed at a younger subset of the population. Virtual reality
(VR) has been talked about for years, but we have yet to see it come to
market. Oculus now says its consumer VR product will be out by the first
quarter of next year, and Valve and HTC say their VR console will be
ready for this year’s holiday season.
If true, then the industry needs to start building content
for this new and potentially “game changing” platform as quickly as
possible. And no, that doesn’t mean shoehorning current games to just
simply “work” on a VR platform. It means building new games from the
ground up, specifically tailored for the virtual reality experience. If
the content fails to wow consumers, then they won’t pay hundreds of
dollars to acquire a VR system, which means VR will die a quick death,
just as it did in the 1990s.
So, given all that, what’s on tap for Monday at E3?
Microsoft kicks things off at noon (Eastern Time), followed by EA and
Ubisoft later in the day. Sony will have its flashy press conference
this evening around 8:30pm ET while Nintendo will have theirs tomorrow
at noon, which is actually official first day of the conference. Fortune will have people on the ground, so look out for news briefs throughout the day.

Friday, September 11, 2015

Why Android is better than iPhone


1. Choices, choices, and more choices…

When you choose an Android phone, you have what seems like an endless amount of choices for phones. Do you want a phone that does what phones do along with taking extremely good pictures? Buy a phone whose main focus is the camera. Do you want a rugged phone that could withstand being dropped many times? Do you want a phone that has a Quad HD screen rather than the 720-1080p screen? Do you want a phone with a smaller or bigger form factor? Android phones cover all this plus so much more. That’s the beauty of Android phones — you can get the one that fits you.
With an iPhone, well, it’s just an iPhone. Whatever it has in it is what you get. Sure you might get 2 or 3 options for a smaller or bigger phone that have slightly different hardware but that’s it. The camera, screen, internal hardware, etc. is going to be the same on a model to model basis. For example, you can’t buy an iPhone that has a high megapixel camera like Android users can with the Sony Xperia Z2.

2. Customization

My favorite part about Android phones — customization. If you enjoy being able to customize your phone, then Android is the way to go. Don’t like the standard keyboard that Android comes with? Easy! Just download a third-party keyboard app that replaces the stock one. Don’t like the entire launcher that runs your phone? Download a new launcher. Want to make your phone have a layout exactly like a Windows phone? Yep, you can do that, too.
Where has this been with iOS? Well, Apple likes to keep things simple and user-friendly which is fine. Why then, with the release of iOS 8, did they copy many things that Android has had for a long time now? Predictive text on your messages, a health app, third-party keyboards, Swype texting, cloud storage for all your photos, widgets, and more. Android (thanks to Google) had all of these features long before iOS 8. After all, “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”. It’s safe to say that the majority of the latest and greatest software features can be found with Android and Apple is now behind. Android wins.

3. Hardware

I believe that the hardware category really solidifies the debate between Android and Apple. People can argue all day about what software (operating system) is better for this reason or that, but you can’t argue blatantly better and faster hardware.
For simplicity’s sake, I am only going to focus on two phones for this category: the Apple iPhone 6 and the Samsung Galaxy S5 since they are the current flagship phones for both Apple and Samsung. In the table below, you will see both phones listed along with their hardware specs:

Apple iPhone 6 Samsung Galaxy S5
Operating system iOS 8 Android 4.4 (KitKat)
Processor Dual-core 2GHz Apple A8 Quad-core 2.5 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 801
RAM 1 GB 2 GB
Screen size 4.7 in 5.1 in
Screen resolution 1334 x 750 1920 x 1080
Pixel density 326ppi 432ppi
Screen type IPS AMOLED
Rear camera, video 8 megapixels; 1080p HD video 16 megapixels; 4K HD video
Front-facing camera 1.2 megapixels 2 megapixels
Flash Dual LED LED
Memory card slot N/A MicroSD
NFC Yes Yes
Wireless data 4G 4G
Size 138 x 66 x 6.9 mm 142 x 72.5 x 8.1 mm
Weight 4.55 oz (129g) 5 oz (145g)
Battery capacity 1,810 mAh 2,800 mAh
Removable battery No Yes
Water-resistant No Yes
As you can see from the spec comparison, the Samsung Galaxy S5 blows the Apple iPhone 6 out of the water. With specs such as a much faster processor, double the RAM, significantly more battery capacity, a higher PPI, a camera with double the megapixels, and being water-resistant, it should be a no-brainer that the Galaxy S5 is the clear winner when it comes to hardware.
In fact, in my Apple iPhone 6 vs Samsung Galaxy S5 vs LG G3 vs HTC One (M8) spec comparison, you’ll see that the iPhone 6 doesn’t win a single category other than the “Dimensions/Weight” category with being 1 mm thinner and 0.45 oz lighter than the Galaxy S5.

4. The Google Play™ Store

Android Google Play Store The Google Play Store is fantastic. It is well laid out, extremely user-friendly, and offers about any type of app that you can think of. They just changed the layout to a very nice UI when you click on an app in the Play Store that you can see with the right-most “Instagram” picture above. It’s easy to read, they show the users what they want to see, and it’s visually appealing. I have used both the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store quite a bit. They’re both very good app stores — better than Amazon’s App Store that’s for sure. However, that’s not where the advantage comes in for Android. The advantage here is that submitting an app to the Google Play Store is much easier than going through the Apple App Store. Yes, that is because Apple goes through a tedious process of checking your app that you are submitting to make sure it follows their guidelines. This may prevent malware from being downloaded via an app, but that’s not even half of it. Apple will deny your app from getting into the app store if you do something as silly as using their “chevron” symbol incorrectly. Trust me, I’ve seen it happen. So, no, it’s not just about preventing malware… it’s about making your app perfect in Apple’s eyes.
On the other hand, it is much easier to submit your Android-built app to the Google Play Store. You don’t have to go through half the stuff that you have to go through with Apple. This makes your life less stressful, and I like that. How many people do you actually know that have malware on their phone specifically from an app they downloaded from the app store? I don’t know anyone. Besides, has common sense just flown out the window in this day and age? The Internet isn’t filtered from malware, so do you go to a website that screams “THIS IS A VIRUS!”? No, it’s just common sense. If there’s an app that says “Hey! This is a virus, you should probably download it so I can hack you”, do you download it? No. Just like if you’re buying an item online, if you are debating about buying an item, do you buy the item that is rated 4.5/5 stars by 2,000 people or the item that is rated 1.5/5 stars by 700 people? Use common sense people, and bask in the glory of how easy it is to get your newly created Android app into the Google Play Store for everyone to see.

5. Widgets & Multitasking

Android Custom Widget Home Screens This somewhat ties in with the Customization section, but Widgets have long been a huge advantage of Android over iOS. With iOS 8, Apple finally just implemented “widgets”, but they are pretty limited. You can only add them to your Notification Center. Apple opted not to have widgets available on any of your main home screens to “avoid clutter”. Um, what? Having widgets on my Android home screens is one of my favorite things about Android.
Android offers all sorts of widgets that you can put onto your home screens. These widgets might be anything from a custom clock, weather, alarms, direct calls to contacts in your phone, flashlight, email, messages, and so much more. You can arrange these any which way on your home screens and have your home screens be exactly the way you want them.
Android Multitasking Multitasking has also been around on Android for a while, and it’s extremely easy to use. You simply open up the multitask window and you can drag two apps that you want to have going at the same time in the appropriate boxes (see the picture above). For example, I am watching a YouTube video while accessing my file system at the same. Perhaps you want to watch a lecture video while taking notes right below the video? Or, watch a video while texting your friends? Go for it. Your move, Apple.

6. Expandable Memory and More

The majority of Android phones offer expandable memory. That means you can pop open the back cover or a slot on the side of your phone and put in a micro SD card which then becomes added memory to your phone. What does Apple do? Well, they’ve never offered expandable memory for the iPhone. Instead, they would rather you pay another $100 to upgrade one of their devices from a 16 GB memory to a 32 GB or 64 GB (like an iPod for example). Are you serious? I took my Galaxy S5 with 16 GB of internal memory and added another 16 GB micro SD card in it and voila! My phone now has 32 GB of capacity and how much did that cost me? $8 for the SD card. Android wins.

7. User Serviceable (Removable) Battery

Android Galaxy S5 Open Back Not all, but many of the Android phones out there will have a removable battery that you yourself can take out and replace or service to your liking. After you use a phone a while, the battery will start to lose its original capacity. It’s not a matter of if the battery life starts getting bad, it’s a matter of when. It’s just how batteries work. They go through enough charge cycles and then they can only hold a certain percentage of their original capacity. So, say you’ve had an iPhone for a long time and it doesn’t last long at all before it needs a charge. Well, too bad, you’ll have to go to the Apple store or some store that can service it or you’ll just have to live with it. If your Android phone has a removable battery, you can just hop on over to Amazon and buy a generic battery for your type of phone (around $20 usually) and pop it in. Then your phone’s battery is like new again.

8. Universal Chargers

All hail micro USB chargers! They are the standard charger on tons of devices out there including Android phones. Left your charger at home and you’re on vacation or something? Have no fear, chances are someone has a micro USB charger for some device of theirs which will charge your phone up just fine. However, what does Apple have? Well, they decided it would be cool to be different and have these “lightning” cables. Not only are these different and only usable for Apple devices, but they changed to the “lightning” cable from the old 30-pin charger that charges older iPhones and iPads. So, now you have to go and buy their new “updated” charger if you want to charge your new Apple device because that 30-pin charger sure won’t fit! Why?! Why would Apple do this? Oh, because it means they’ll make a fortune selling chargers because they’re so specific to their devices and with their shoddy quality (I’m on my 4th Macbook Pro charger and 3rd iPad charger), you’ll just have to keep buying and buying. They love it!
I’ve been using the same micro USB charger for my Samsung phones for over 2 years now with no problems. Can’t say the same for my Apple chargers. Want to debate the shoddy quality of all of Apple’s chargers? Well, have a look for yourself at the reviews:
The three main chargers for iPads, iPhones, and Macbook Pros. Rated an average of 1.5 out of 5 stars by 2,000+ people. I’ve never seen ratings so low on products coming from a company that focuses so much on their quality. Not to mention, they charge $19 for the 1m Lightning to USB, $29 for the 2m Lightning to USB, and $79 for the MagSafe 2 charger. It’s thievery.

9. Durability

iPhone 6 Plus Bend Test This is more specifically aimed at the Galaxy Note 3 vs. the iPhone 6 Plus debate that has been going on recently. Since there are so many Android phones out there, there’s no way to measure the durability of all Android phones. Some are made with durable materials, others aren’t. However, Samsung especially has gotten a lot of heat for making their phones out of polycarbonate (tough plastic) rather than aluminum like the iPhone and some other phones. Who knows, the S6 may be made out of aluminum when that is released. But, I personally believe that using polycarbonate is the way to go with smartphones. It is much lighter, more flexible, won’t scratch and dent as easily as a soft metal would, and obviously it’s a great material because Samsung’s phones have proven to be tougher than nails.
Take the recent bend tests that were done on an iPhone 6 Plus and a Galaxy Note 3. Haven’t seen them? Check out the links below:
With the iPhone 6 Plus being such a large piece of aluminum, it’s no wonder it bends and stays bent. Plastic doesn’t do that. You can try bending it out of shape, but it will retain its original shape rather than staying bent.
Besides, how many of you use a case on your phone? I’m assuming quite a few. I always have a case on my phone. What are cases made out of? Plastic. So hate on plastic all you want, but it’s proven tough!
Lastly, my Galaxy S5 doesn’t bend and stay bent when I keep it in my pocket for a long period of time. Just sayin’.

10. Other Features

This section refers to other features that certain Android phones offer that iPhones don’t… yet. They are like the “cherry on top” of all of the other features listed. For example, certain Android phones have some or all of the following features:
  • Water and dust resistant
  • Ability to record 4K HD video
  • IR (infrared) blaster to control devices
  • Haptic feedback
  • Ability to access all your files by using your phone as a mass storage device
  • And more…
Like I said, not all Android phones have all these things (some have just a few or none), but the Galaxy S5 has all of the things mentioned. None of the iPhones have had any of those things mentioned to this date.

Conclusion

All in all, both Android phones and iPhones have their advantages and disadvantages. I could write an article about some iPhone advantages over an Android phone as well, but the Android advantages way overpower the advantages that you get with an iPhone in my opinion. If you enjoy the advantages listed in this article such as having an abundance of phone choices, customization, better hardware, and expandable memory just to name a few, go with an Android phone. If you enjoy a simple, more user-friendly interface for someone who may not be as technical and don’t like having a bunch of customization options, go with an iPhone. Just know that you aren’t getting the biggest bang for your buck.
Samsung, LG, Sony, and other major companies have started to outdo Apple, especially in the hardware department, and Apple has some catching up to do if they hope to keep competing with other flagship phones. The best part is, all of these companies coming out with great phones constantly heats up the competition, and competition is great for us consumers. Competition is what brings us these cutting-edge technologies, phones, operating systems, and prices at such a fast pace.
With the U.S. market share of Apple phones at 32.5% in 2014, the lowest percentage iOS has captured since the iPhone 4s launched in 2011, it’s starting to tell you something. Android is the way to go.