After Brexit, a changed future

Protester James Laurent waves a Eorpean Union flag outside the houses of Parliament Reaction to EU Referendum result, London, UK - 24 Jun 2016 (Rex Features via AP Images)
Following the initial shock from the referendum on Thursday in which Great Britain voted to leave the European Union, Harvard analysts worked to grasp the unfolding impact of the momentous decision on the United Kingdom, Europe, and the world, and they looked toward a changed future.
“Britain was always a reluctant member of the EU, but it will continue to prosper,” predicted Peter Hall, Krupp Foundation Professor of European Studies, by phone from London, where he has been throughout the referendum campaign. “As for the future of the European Union, nobody knows. European themselves don’t know.”
The departure sanctioned by British voters — 52 percent opting to leave and 48 percent to remain — will mean the EU has 27 member states, which will continue to operate as a single market with free movement of people, capital, and goods. But Britain’s exit will shift the balance of power among those nations, and is likely to spawn withdrawal movements in some other EU countries.
After Germany, Britain has the union’s second-largest economy, and although the financial impact on the EU remains to be seen, the political implications seem clearer. The Brexit vote took place against a backdrop of economic and migration crises that continue to rattle the continent and to fuel skepticism about EU policies.
“The vote is damaging to the EU,” said Hall. “It will intensify the need that European leaders must already feel to find a new purpose, a new mission.”
The Brexit vote reflects a divorce between the union and sizable segments of the European electorate, said Maya Jasanoff, Coolidge Professor of History and Harvard College Professor.
“What the vote also shows is the gap between the central role that the EU plays in integrating European economies and other aspects of their political and civic lives and the popular understanding and commitment to the European project,” she said. “European leaders have failed to communicate the rationale for political integration to the electorate of the member states. The case of political integration has not been effectively made.”
The vote also revealed a polarized Britain, with deep divisions rooted in values and economic status, a phenomenon that bears some resemblance to the political climate in the United States, said Hall.
“London supported to ‘remain’ while many parts of the countryside voted to ‘leave,’ ” said Hall. “Large segments of the population feel left out of the prosperity associated with globalization and the EU, while others, especially in London, benefit from integration into an open global economy and are outward-looking.”
Other divisions were on display across the United Kingdom. Scotland and Northern Ireland voted strongly in favor of remaining in the European Union, but were outvoted by England, where most of the electorate lives. In the wake of the Brexit vote, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said that a second Scottish independence vote is likely.
If Northern Ireland, whose economy has blossomed in part because of its open borders with Ireland, a devoted EU member, were also to seek independence, the United Kingdom could become a shell of itself, Hall said.
In such a scenario, “Cameron will be considered the worst prime minister in the history of the United Kingdom,” he said.
For now, European leaders face the task of dealing with the mounting pressure to solve the refugee crisis that was a driving force behind the emotional Brexit campaign.
“Euro-skeptical parties on the radical right and left of the political spectrum have been encouraged by the British vote to demand similar referenda in their own countries,” Hall said. “But mainstream political leaders are anxious to prevent this. They can only do so if they retain power, and that will be their first priority.  They can only do so if they can revive economic growth in Europe and limit the backlash against immigration. That will be very difficult to do.”
Source By - Studity

How and Why to Shoot RAW Photos on Android

Android is now a great platform for photography. The quality of cameras on the best Android phones has improved immeasurably in the last couple of years, as has the software for processing, sharing, and backing up your images. And since Lollipop, Android has had a secret weapon for the keenest photographers — the ability to shoot in RAW.
But what exactly is RAW, how can it benefit you, and how do you get started? Let’s take a look.
What Is RAW?
To understand what a RAW photo is, it’s best to look at how a digital photo is taken. Normally, images are saved in the Jpeg format.
The software takes the data captured by the camera’s image sensor, processes it by adjusting exposure, contrast, sharpness, and so on, then compresses it, and finally saves it as a Jpeg file. This can be opened in any image viewer.
When shooting RAW, the software takes the data captured by the image sensor, and that’s it.
On Android, this data is saved in a file with the .DNG extension, which is Adobe’s RAW format; other digital cameras often use their own proprietary RAW formats. To open the file, you need specialist software that is compatible with the specific RAW format you’re using.
Processing RAW Files
When you open it, you’ll probably find the RAW image looks a little “flat”. A Jpeg is a finished image. It’s processed to be brighter, sharper, and have punchier colors. It can be shared or printed without needing any additional tweaks or filters. A RAW image is not finished — it’s the raw, unprocessed data from the camera’s sensor, and you need to tweak it yourself.
Because RAW images need processing, they won’t normally show up in your photos app of choice, nor will they be backed up to any cloud photos service you use. You also won’t be able to share them directly on Instagram or Flickr.
To get around this, Android camera apps often shoot in RAW+Jpeg mode. This saves the RAW file along with a standard — and far more useable — Jpeg.
Why Shoot RAW?
This doesn’t sound very convenient. So what are the benefits to shooting RAW?
The main advantage is that RAW files are uncompressed. A typical Jpeg taken by a smartphone might be around five megabytes, but an equivalent RAW file could be more like 15. So much information recorded by the camera sensor is discarded from the Jpeg, but is retained in the RAW.
As a result the RAW files are much more flexible when being processed — you can uncover fine details in areas of shadow, or recover overexposed areas in the highlights, with no loss of image quality. It can be used for creative purposes and can also produce better results in less than optimal shooting conditions.
RAW images are also better for more technical adjustments, like correcting the white balance, and no matter how many changes you make, the image does not degrade.
RAW needs a lot more work, but it’s a valuable tool if you’re serious about photography, or serious about getting the best from your phone’s camera.
How to Shoot RAW On Android
To shoot in RAW, your phone (or tablet) needs to support an optional part of the Android operating system called the Camera2 API. This must be implemented by the device’s manufacturer and cannot be added via an app. In other words, if your phone doesn’t support it, then RAW shooting is off the menu (unless you want toflash a custom ROM).
Camera2 was introduced with Android 5.0 Lollipop. Most mid- to high-end phones launched since then are likely to support it; it is much more likely to be absent in budget handsets.
As well as needing the Camera2 API, you also need a camera app that can make use of it. It may seem like a no-brainer that if a manufacturer adds a feature, it’ll also give you the software to use it, but no.
At the time of this writing, even the official Google Camera app cannot do RAW shooting (although there are rumors that this will be introduced in the next major update). High-end smartphones are starting to offer it right out of the box, including the LG G5 and Galaxy S7, but if yours doesn’t, you will need a third-party app.
Android Apps For RAW Photography
As we’ve already mentioned, you need specialist software to shoot and process RAW images. If your phone’s built-in camera app doesn’t support it, or if you want to test some more powerful alternatives, there are a number of apps in the Play Store that support RAW.
Lightroom Mobile
Adobe’s Lightroom Mobile — the smartphone version of the company’s popular desktop photography app — is the best place to start, as it’s able to both shoot and process RAW images.
The camera is a basic point-and-shoot affair. It’s fine for replacing your phone’s built-in camera app, but less so if you’re looking for more creative control. Where Lightroom really shines is in the processing side.
It goes way beyond the expected options, like brightness and contrast tweaks, giving you the ability to adjust the tone curve, or use the split toning feature to produce the kind of results you’d only expect on a desktop PC.
And if you already subscribe to the desktop version of the software, it’ll sync perfectly with that too.
Manual Camera
Manual Camera is arguably Android’s best looking camera app, and one of its most usable. It uses an analog-style dial to control ISO, white balance, shutter speed, and focusing, enabling you to adjust the exposure settings while composing your shot.
With built-in effects, assorted composition grids, and RAW+Jpeg support, this is a great option for serious photographers.
ProShot
Another beautiful camera app, ProShot has even more features than Manual Camera but comes at the cost of a steeper learning curve.

Full manual controls are here, though, with support for bracketing (taking multiple consecutive shots at slightly different exposures), a handy live histogram, and even an infinite shutter mode you can use to create your own light paintings. ProShot offers RAW+Jpeg and RAW only options.
AZ Camera
AZ Camera camera has a similar feature set to Manual Camera and ProShot, but is free. You get manual controls, including focus, shutter speed, and ISO, and you can also choose to shoot in RAW-only mode as well as RAW+Jpeg, should you wish to.
Extra functionality, with exposure bracketing and a live histogram among other things, can be unlocked through an in-app purchase.
Snapseed
With no integrated camera app, Google’s Snapseed is purely for editing, and it is capable of producing incredible results. This free desktop-class app works with the DNG files produced by the camera apps listed above.
It offers a full range of editing tools, including being able to adjust very small and specific areas of an image. Or if you prefer, there’s a full set of filters you can apply to give your shots a film-like quality with a single tap.
An Invaluable Tool
Being able to shoot in RAW helps you to get the absolute best out of the new range of high-quality cameras on Android phones. You don’t need to do it all the time — for quick snapshots you’re going to post to Facebook, you can continue to use your normal camera app.
But for those occasions when you want to get the best shot, or if you’re shooting in low light or other difficult conditions, it is an invaluable tool.
What are your experiences of shooting in RAW on Android? What devices and apps do you use? Let us know in the comments.

Boost Your Phone's Cool Quotient !


The Ice View asks the question “what if your phone’s flip cover was see-through? The purpose of a flip cover is to guard the screen from any accidental impact, but that pretty much means you can’t see squat until you flip it open. Flip covers with circular or squarish holes don’t make sense either. It kind of defeats the purpose if your cover doesn’t completely guard your screen right? Well the HTC Ice View cover’s just what we all need. Using cleverly engineered PolyUrethane, the cover is actually translucent. But when rested on the screen, it allows you to see necessary information displayed on your lock screen. What’s better, it’s scratch and impact resistant, AND TOUCH SENSITIVE! Which pretty much puts it high above the competition.
A classy looking metal blip on the bottom left not only provides space for branding, it also conceals the magnet that unlocks your phone when you flip it over. Neat! Ain’t it?!
Designer: HTC Design


Why Is Chrome Using up So Much RAM? (And How to Fix It Right Now)


Chrome
If you’ve done any research at all into different browsers, you’re likely familiar with the fact that Chrome can be a bit of a resource hog — looking at Task Manager or Activity Monitor, you’ll often see Chrome at the top of the list.
But why does it use up so much RAM, especially compared to other browsers? And what can you do to keep it in check?

Does Chrome Really Use More RAM?

In short, yes. Chrome’s RAM-hungry reputation is deserved. Compared to other browsers, it doesn’t always use a huge amount of memory, but it does use more.ITPro’s recent test showed that with a Facebook page, a YouTube video, a BBC article, the Outlook web app, and a webpage open, Chrome used almost 600 MB of RAM, while Firefox used just over 400 MB.
And if you’ve ever run your own test, you’ll almost certainly have found that Chrome uses more memory than other browsers, including Opera, Firefox, Edge, and—just barely–Internet Explorer. Chrome is one of the fastest browsers out there, but it needs a lot of resources to take that title.

Why Does Chrome Use So Much RAM?

To understand why Chrome uses so much memory, you need to understand a bit about what makes Chrome different from other browsers. Every app on your computer runs a number of processes in your computer’s RAM, where the hard work of running your computer is done. RAM is temporary storage for data, and it’s very fast; your CPU can access the data that’s there much faster than it could pull the data off of your hard drive.
What makes Chrome’s use of RAM unique is that it stores every tab, plugin, and extension in a different RAM process. This is called process isolation, and it prevents one process from writing to another one. This is why you see a ton of different entries for Chrome when you open up Task Manager or Activity Monitor on your computer. Each of these processes only uses a small amount of memory, but when you add them up, the load can be very high.
chrome task manager
Why does Chrome use RAM in this way? It has to do with stability and speed.
By running each process separately, if one of them crashes, the entire browser remains stable. Sometimes a plugin will fail, for example, and that will require that you refresh the tab. If every tab and plugin was run in the same process, it could require that you close and reopen the whole browser, instead of just the tab.
This means that some processes that single-process browsers are able to share between tabs need to be replicated for each tab in Chrome, as shown in the image below. This comes with some security benefits, however, much like sandboxing or using a virtual machine do. For example, if a JavaScript attack takes place in one tab, there’s no way for it to get to another tab in Chrome, whereas it might be able to do that in a single-process browser.Chrome Process
In addition to the tabs, plugins, and extensions, a few other processes also use RAM, with pre-rendering being a notable example. Pre-rendering lets Chrome start loading up a webpage that it predicts you’ll go to next (it might be the top search result from Google, or the “next page” link on a news site). This requires resources, and so uses more RAM, but it can really speed up your browsing experience if it’s working well.
If it’s not working well, it can slow everything down by taking control over too much of your RAM.

Is Chrome’s RAM Usage a Problem?

Of course, just because Chrome is using a lot of RAM doesn’t mean that it’s necessarily causing a problem. If you aren’t using RAM, it’s not doing you any good — your computer only uses it to access data quickly and speed up processing. If you’re keeping your RAM as clear as possible, you’re not going to be taking advantage of the power of your computer. Just like on your cell phone, clearing out your running processes might actually slow things down.
However, if Chrome is using too much RAM, it can be a problem, as it will limit the amount of memory available for other apps, and it could even have trouble keeping important information from your browser available for quick access.
When it comes down to it, Chrome’s RAM usage is only a problem if it’s slowing things down, whether it’s your browsing or your entire computer. If you see that it’s using a lot of RAM but you aren’t seeing any negative speed consequences, it’s not worth worrying about.
That said, if it is slowing things down, it’s time to take action.

How to Reduce Chrome’s RAM Usage

There are a lot of ways you can speed up your browsing and reduce the amount of memory that it’s using, but possibly the most important is Chrome’s Task Manager. Much like the Windows Task Manager, you can use this window to see which tabs and extensions are using the most memory and close them to free up some space.
In Windows, just hit Shift + Esc to access the Task Manager; on a Mac, you’ll need to open it from the Window menu
Once you’ve gotten rid of the resource-heavy processes, there are a number of other things you can do. Enabling tab discarding, for example, will allow Chrome to get rid of tabs that you haven’t used in a long time if memory is low.
You can also disable extensions that are using a lot of power, or add a few extensions that will help you manage the amount of resources that Chrome is using. You can also delete the History Provider Cache to free up some space, and weak hidden settings or mess around with Chrome flags. And, of course, you can always use a different browser, which may be a good idea if you’re using a MacBook.

How Does Chrome Work for You?

Because Chrome still controls a huge majority of the browser market, it’s unlikely that you’ve switched to another browser, like the ever under-appreciated Opera, or the ultra-new Edge. If you’re still using Google’s popular browser, we want to know why, and if you have any problems with resource consumption or speed.
How do you find Chrome? Does it use up all of your RAM? Or is it pretty reasonable in how many resources it consumes? Have you tried solving the problem, or is it still happening? Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments below!

20 Most Important Programming Languages In The World

Most Important Programming languages 
Here, I’ll be telling you about the 20 most important programming languages in the world–a list that covers the best of both old and new programming languages.
20 Most Important Programming Languages in The World
1. ALGOL
Created in 1958, ALGOL stands for Algorithmic Language. This was one of the first attempts made to create a programming language that could be used on different machines.
Today, the use of ALGOL is minimal but the roots of many major programming languages could be traced back to it.
2. COBOL
COBOL–Common Business-Oriented Language–was created on 1959 and it found its use in heavy business systems like insurance, banking etc.
Even today mainframe computers running in government departments, banks, nuclear power stations use COBOL and it’s still being produced and developed.
3. FORTRAN
Created in 1957, Fortran–named after Formula Translator–could be considered the first general-purpose programming language that was used for heavy-duty scientific computing.
Today, it still finds its use among the scientific community, physicists, and engineers.
4. ADA
Named after the programmer Ada Lovelace, ADA is an object-oriented programming language that’s extended from languages like Pascal.
Developed in 1980, this programming language, is used in military and air traffic control due to its safety provisions.
5. PL/I
Created in 1964 and introduced in 1969, PL/I stands for Programming Language One. Invented by an IBM committee , this language lost its favor in 1970s. However, PL/I is still used in IBM System/360 mainframes due to IBM’s dominance in tech.
6. PASCAL
Named after well-known mathematician Blaise Pascal, this language was created in 1968 that peaked in 1980s. One of the most popular descendants of ALGOL, Pascal is still taught as object-oriented programming at many places.
7. LISP
Lisp, first created in 1958, stands for List Processing. It’s the second-oldest high-level programming language that finds its use even today.
Talking about the contemporary presence, Lisp is a popular programming language in AI field.
8. C
Designed by Dennis Ritchie, C is one of the most influential programming languages of all time. This portable language is known for its speed that can be used to access lower level layers of a system.
Mother of many other programming languages–Python, PHP, Perl, MATLAB–C is also used to write a large chunk of Unix, Windows, and Linux operating systems.
9. C++
C++ is a general-purpose and object-oriented programming language that was created between 1979 and 1983.
There are tons of software–ranging from games, office suits, video players and even operating systems–that are written in C++. There are high chances that the popular software that you use in daily life are written in C++, C, or objective-C.
10. JAVA
Developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems, Java first appeared 21 years ago in 1995. It follows an object-oriented model and is simpler to use than one of its influencers C++.
World’s most popular mobile operating system Android is written in Java. Also, Java continues to power millions of client-server web applications and establishes itself as the most popular programming language.
11. JAVASCRIPT
Designed by Brenden Eich, then working at Netscape, in 10 days in 1995, JavaScript is a high-level and dynamic programming. This language is often referred as “language of the web.”
JavaScript, HTML, and CSS are one of three core technologies that are used to produce web content. It’s supported and used by all modern web browsers.
12. C#
C#, pronounced as C Sharp, was developed by Microsoft in 2000. It was designed for use in Redmond’s .NET framework. This simple and object-oriented programming language is used to build a variety of applications that target Windows environment.
13. SCALA
Invented by Martin Odersky in 2004, Scala’s was inspired by the criticism of Java. This general purpose programming language emphasizes a lot on functional and static aspects. It’s one of the most popular JVM scripting languages. Scala also finds use in data science.
14. PYTHON
Created by Dutch programmer Guido van Rossum, Python was designed with an aim to write simple and readable code.
Python is one of the most popular programming languages that allows one to write code in fewer lines. It’s a great language for teaching programming at school. Python is used by organizations like Google, NASA, Yahoo, and CERN. It also finds major applications in the scientific community, data mining, and AI field.
15. SQL
SQL, or Structured Programming Language, was designed by Donald D. Chamberlin and Raymond F. Boyce.
Originally based on tuple relational calculus and relational algebra, this special-purpose programming language is widely used as a standard for relational database management systems.
16. RUBY
Ruby–a dynamic, general purpose, and object-oriented programming language–was developed in 1990s by Yukihiro “Matz” Matsumoto.
Influenced by Perl, Ada, Eiffel, and Lisp, Ruby comes with automatic memory management and supports multiple programming paradigms. Ruby, along with its web framework Rails, is used to create web applications easily.
17. PHP
PHP was designed by Rasmus Lerdorf in 1994, PHP originally stood for PersonalHome Page. However, now it stands for Hypertext Preprocessor.
This general purpose programming language is one of the most commonly used technologies in server-side development. It’s used to make dynamic websites and establishes itself as the backbone of WordPress.
18. R
R is the most popular programming language when we talk about statistical computing, data mining, and mathematical data analysis. It was designed by Ross Ihaka and Robert Gentleman in 1993.
19. GO
Go, or Golang, was created by Google in 2009 to handle its backend servers and networking applications. Go is also an attractive tool to make automation tools for developers. This fast programming language follows Unix’s principle of “Do one thing. And do it well.
20. SWIFT
Introduced in 2014, Swift was developed by Apple. This was developed as a replacement of Objective-C. Today, Swift is one of the fastest growing programming languages that finds its use in creating iOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS applications.
Did we miss some important programming language in our list? Don’t forget to drop your views in the comments section below.