Journey Into The Unknown

The Internet as we know it today is not truly decentralized. Most of the content on the Internet is held by powerful computers known as servers held by huge corporations. There is in fact a TV show(any Silicon Valley fans here) which deals with this very issue. So what exactly is meant by a Peer to Peer internet?  A peer-to-peer (P2P) network is a network of computers in which each computer acts both as a server as well as a client. Files are stored across the network across these multiple computers(also known as nodes). Any computer on this network can share and retrieve files with others in the network. One key aspect of this kind of network is that on the addition of a new node into the network it doesn't lose its efficiency or speed. This is different from the client-server architecture used mainly today is that servers tend to become slower when newer clients try to access its content. In a P2P network, the load is shared across all the nodes due to which the chances of such a...

 A key challenge for the Internet of Things(IoT) is security. There is a myriad of devices, each different from one another in an IoT ecosystem. This makes securing each device challenging as there is no one fits all approach. In recent years, IoT ecosystems have been overwhelmed by DDoS attacks. A distributed denial of service(DDoS) attack overwhelms the IoT networks with huge traffic. IoT ecosystems have hardware constraints due to which it becomes difficult to prevent such attacks. Added to that, since all the devices are connected, the attack spreads throughout the entire system leading to massive consequences.  Blockchain is basically a distributed ledger in which records of transactions are made by many nodes. It is a decentralized system in which no one can alter a particular transaction. If a wrong transaction is made, a new transaction must be created to reverse the error, and it is visible to all the network participants. You may have heard of blockchain related to c...

 A question always arises what the end goal of AI is? With greater computational resources, we have built deeper neural networks which seem to predict almost everything? But the fact remains that we are yet to see a truly generalized AI that can make decisions like humans.   For this, let's dive into the decision-making center of our body, aka the brain. The brain works magically if we truly observe it. From controlling our internal body processes to making conscious decisions and storing them as memories, it is truly wonderful. What makes it so adept at doing these tasks seamlessly?  The brain is a vast collection of neurons that seem to be connected with each other. Not only this, it makes new connections depending on your experiences as well as what your body requires. Another factor which we must account for is that it does so using a minimal amount of energy. Simulating the brain as an artificial neural network takes about 10 billion times more energy than our b...

Mobile phones is probably the invention to have impacted modern times. The idea of having such a powerful device in our hands was unbelievable a few decades ago.  However, in recent times it feels as if the industry is reaching a plateau. There have been new features but currently the only question is whether we require it? In recent years the smartphones have gone from becoming so thin that they slip out of your hands to again becoming slightly thicker so that you can hold them. There have been a number of sensors which have been added to smartphones over the years expanding its functionality , humongous battery lives and a smoother touchscreen experience.   So you may ask if there are so many new features being added year by year how is the industry stagnating? My answer is perception by the customer. Around 5-6 years ago there was a marked difference between lower end smartphones and the high end ones. There used to be a difference in how the smartphone responded to to...

There has been a debate about whether electric vehicles have been effective in reducing pollution. Research does show that direct emissions from EVs are zero and that the fuel burnt for producing electricity is lower than that of conventional vehicles. The concern is whether it's enough to stop climate change or continue enhancing renewable energy.   One thing is for sure EVs are probably the best way to deal with vehicular air pollution. As they progress through various generations of technology and become more affordable for most of the world, it will help combat climate change. But building technology for renewable energy should still remain our number one priority. Moreover, there is also a concern about how EVs' old batteries will be handled. Most EV batteries last 10 years, and it will be interesting to see how we handle their disposal once these vehicles become mainstream. Electronic waste has become a problem, and old batteries not being disposed of will further aggrav...