Now, engineers at Indiana University demonstrate for the first time a new technique for masks. A fabric generating a weak electric field can inactivate coronaviruses. The electroceutical material, described in a ChemRxiv preprint that has not yet been peer-reviewed, could be used to make face masks and other personal protective equipment (PPE), the authors say.

The fabric was tested against a pig respiratory coronavirus & human coronavirus. It has not yet been verified against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

“The work is of interest for the scientific community; it will open new search to provide smart solutions to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic,” says Mahmoud Al Ahmad, an associate professor of engineering at the University of United Arab Emirates. He was not involved in the research. While the concept will require more development before being applied to PPE, he says, “it is an excellent start in this direction.”

Beyond masks, the findings raise the possibility of using weak electrical fields to curb the spread of viruses in many ways, such as purifying the air in shared spaces or disinfecting operating room surfaces. Coronavirus is not the first or last virus that is going to disrupt our lives. Think about bigger and broader approaches to utilize weak electric fields against virus infectivity.

Sen’s lab has been codeveloping electroceutical fabric technology. It is under the proprietary name V.Dox Technology, with Arizona-based company Vomaris for the past six years. Sen retains a financial stake in the company.

The face masks fabric technology consists of a matrix pattern of silver and zinc dots that act as batteries when exposed to moisture, forming a weak electric field.

The technology consists of a matrix pattern of silver and zinc dots printed onto a material, such as polyester or cotton. The dots form a battery generating a weak electric field: When exposed to a conductive medium, like gel or sweat, electrons transfer from the zinc to the silver in a REDOX reaction, generating a potential difference of 0.5 volts. The technology is FDA-cleared and commercialized for wound care, where it has been shown to treat bacterial biofilm infections.

To be used in masks, moisture will need to be applied in some fashion. According to Sen, approaches could include embedding a hydrogel, so it activates the dots or inserting liquid-filled piping on the periphery of the mask. Moisture from exhaled air will continue to keep the fabric moist.

When the COVID-19 pandemic started, Sen and his team began to wonder if the technology might affect viruses as well as bacteria. Past work in the literature suggested coronaviruses rely on electrostatic forces for attachment and genome assembly, and Sen hoped an electric field would disrupt those forces and therefore kill the virus.

IU geneticist Kenneth Cornetta is who has performed some of the initial virus experiments in his laboratory. The team exposed a pig respiratory coronavirus to the electroceutical fabric for 1 or 5 minutes. After one minute, they found evidence that the virus particles had begun to destabilize and aggregate, becoming more substantial than before exposure. That suggests the weak electric field was causing “damaging structural alterations to the virions,” the authors write.

The electroceutical surface technology, called V.Dox Technology, is a proprietary dot-matrix pattern of embedded microcell batteries that create an electric field and wirelessly generate a low level of electricity when moist.

The electroceutical fabric consists of a dot matrix of silver and zinc nanoparticles that act as batteries when exposed to moisture.
Next, the team tested the virus particles exposed to the fabric against cells in a dish. “The infectivity was gone,” says Sen.

The results indicate “promise for this strategy,” says Murugappan Muthukumar, a professor of polymer science and engineering at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, who was not involved in the study. “The authors’ hypothesis that the electrostatic forces within the virus particles and between the virus particles and the fabric are important is correct and is an excellent idea.”

Still, Muthukumar notes, it is difficult to extrapolate how the electric field affects the viral genome, and more work needs to be done to investigate the effects observed in the paper.

Since publishing the preprint, the team also tested the fabric against human coronavirus 229E, a cause of upper respiratory tract infections, and got similar results, adds Sen.

The team has submitted the data to the FDA in the hopes of receiving Emergency Use Authorization to use the fabric in face masks. The technology could even be incorporated into the manufacturing of N95 covers or as an insert, says Sen.

Vomaris currently sells its wound-dressing kits for between US $38 and $69 online. Sen says the technology is inexpensive to manufacture and could be used in PPE at a modest cost.

Independent of Vomaris, Sen’s laboratory is developing a tunable electroceutical called patterned electroceutical dressing. The field strength can be altered depending on need. The dressing has shown to be safe for patients with wounds, says Sen, and is currently in clinical testing.

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In order, the Ministry said that the conditional exemption to use drones would be limited to equipment deployed by the nodal agency for aerial surveillance, aerial photography, public announcements and an aerial spray of insecticide. Details of the drone flights spraying pesticide will be provided to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation.

Selective Deployment of Drones

The drones will not be flown over for spraying eco-sensitive zones around Wildlife Sanctuaries and National Parks, according to the order. Moreover, the drone operations will be restricted only to the period between sunrise and sunset. They will also not be used in adverse weather conditions such as heavy winds, rain, dust storms and low visibility.

State Agriculture Commissioner Om Prakash told on Thursday that the deployment of a drone on a trial basis in Jaipur district’s Samod village had proved the utility of the equipment in reaching difficult and inaccessible terrains. “Drones can spray insecticide at the height and in places where regular sprayers cannot reach. They can kill locusts which are perched on high trees these days,” he said.

Dr Prakash said though the drones were not as effective as sprayers, which are usually mounted on tractors and fire tenders, they would be useful as an “additional support” for sprinkling the chemicals on the locust swarms at places like foothills and dunes. A drone can spray pesticide on a nearly 2.5-acre area during a flight of 15 minutes.

Tenders for Drones Facility

The Agriculture Department has been floating tenders for engaging 30 drones for locust control in Rajasthan. Dr Prakash said the insects were landing on trees and foraging on leaves primarily because of lack of vegetation in agricultural fields after the rabi crop harvesting. They are likely to come down when they find greener on the land.

Locust threat is more significant in 2020, warns Agriculture Ministry monitor.

The Agriculture Commissioner said the locust control operations had been carried out in an area measuring 67,000 acres across the State. There was no significant damage to agriculture because of the absence of standing crops, but the cotton crop in 4,000 hectares in Sriganganagar district and 100 hectares in Nagaur has been destroyed.

200 Teams to Survey

Over 800 sprayers-mounted tractors and 50 fire tenders have been pressed into service for locust control. Dr Prakash said that about 200 teams were involved in the daily survey of the affected areas and the farmers were being supplied with high-intensity insecticide-free of cost.

The Government of Delhi has also issued an advisory on preventive measures to control a probable locust attack.

The swarms of tropical grasshoppers, which have been crossing over to Rajasthan from the India-Pakistan border since April 11, have moved towards other areas in neighbouring Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh and even reached the Vidarbha region in Maharashtra.

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Behnken and Hurley will be the first people ever to launch in SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule. During that test flight, slated for liftoff from Florida at 4:33 p.m. EDT, the astronauts will make sure all the systems work before NASA certifies the spacecraft to regularly transport its astronauts to the space station.

Even astronauts’ jobs have changed because of coronavirus, Just two months before the mission, during a time when they were learning crucial skills for everyday space-station living, the coronavirus outbreak hit. Without close, interpersonal training, it can be hard to learn those routine tasks, like using — and fixing — the complex piece of machinery that is the station’s toilet.

“You want to be able to do the things you’re going to have to do every day without having to think too much about them,” said Peggy Whitson, a former NASA astronaut who retired in 2018. “Those are the things that are going to waste time if you aren’t pretty familiar going in.” There’s already a lot riding on this mission.

Wednesday’s launch is the first time NASA astronauts will launch to orbit from U.S. soil since the space shuttle was retired in 2011 If the mission is successful, NASA will no longer have to rely solely on Russia to transport U.S. astronauts to space, which has cost the U.S. billions of dollars.

It would also bolster NASA’s bet that relying on commercial companies for “routine” services, like transporting cargo and crew to the space station, will free up the agency to focus on more ambitious endeavors, such as missions to the moon or Mars. “The expectation after Apollo was that we’d be on Mars by 1980,” said Lori Garver, who was NASA’s deputy administrator from 2009 to 2013. “Finally, I think, we’re going to be able to accelerate our progress by opening it up, reducing the cost.”

For SpaceX, a successful launch would achieve the company’s long-standing goal of flying humans to space. It also signifies how much the company has evolved over its 18 years. When SpaceX and Boeing Co. were awarded multibillion contracts in 2014 to develop separate spacecraft to ferry astronauts to the space station, the Elon Musk-led SpaceX was seen as a scrappy upstart. Today, the company has an extensive list of customers ranging from commercial satellite operators to the U.S. military and, of course, NASA.

“They build and operate what I consider to be safe spacecraft,” said former NASA Administrator Charles Bolden Jr., who was initially unimpressed with SpaceX after a visit early in the company’s history. “They have grown in my estimation and my personal esteem, in no small part due to their leadership in the form of Gwynne Shotwell.”
Shotwell, the company’s president and chief operating officer, said earlier this month that there are thousands of SpaceX employees focused on this mission.

“We spent years working on this vehicle,” she told reporters. “There will be a little sense of relief once [Behnken and Hurley are] in orbit. I’ll feel more relief when they get to the station and then, obviously, I will start sleeping again when they’re back safely on the planet.”

In March, as the COVID-19 pandemic continued to spread, NASA had to evaluate the astronauts’ remaining training sessions and decide which had to be done in-person, with as few people as possible, and which could be held remotely.

Learning how to use the space station’s kitchen equipment? Virtual.
Instructors used photos and videos to show Behnken and Hurley how to warm up food or figure out how much water they’d need to rehydrate their food packages.

Practicing space walks? In person.
Behnken suited up in a replica of the spacesuit he’d wear during an actual spacewalk and scaled a life-size space station mock-up that sits in a 40-foot-deep pool at Houston’s Johnson Space Center. The 20 or so experts who usually congregate in a nearby conference room to answer questions or give tips watched from home and relied on video communications, said Megan Levins, chief training officer at Johnson Space Center.

Learning how to use the space station’s toilet? Definitely an in-person lesson.
“It’s hardware you want to make sure you know how to use,” Levins said. The station’s waste management system is high-tech and involves buttons, switches and a number of parts. There are pumps and compressors. There’s a suction function that pulls urine into a funnel and runs it through an air/water separator. Suction is also needed to perform the vital task of pulling solid waste into the toilet. (“In zero gravity, everything floats,” Whitson said.)
That’s why it’s so important to know exactly how to set up the toilet, use it and figure out if there’s a problem.

Usually, astronauts will train side-by-side with an instructor, who uses a mock-up of the toilet to show them how to manipulate its valves. This time, the instructor stood more than six feet away, wore a mask and gave verbal instructions to the astronauts at the mock-up toilet. It’s less efficient to explain everything verbally, Levin said. “It is more difficult but doable.”

NASA has plenty of experience isolating staff to stave off illness. And in the early days of the space program, astronauts were sequestered once they returned home. Famously, Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins were quarantined for three weeks after their moon mission in 1969 for fear of lunar contagions.

Nowadays, astronauts typically enter quarantine two weeks before launch and get their temperatures checked every day, said Whitson, who is also a former chief of NASA’s astronaut office. During this period, only a few people like spouses or those critical to the mission are allowed to visit the crew. “We’ve never used the term ‘social distance’ … but that’s exactly what we were doing,” she said. “We have one integrated ventilation system onboard. If one person gets sick, everybody’s going to get sick.”

For Behnken, the additional measures put in place were just an extension of what he was already used to as a veteran astronaut and former chief of NASA’s astronaut office. “We assume pandemic for all crews that are headed toward the space station,” he said. “We just have been doing that longer.” On Earth, particles from a sneeze might travel six feet. But in space, those particles can stay in the air for much longer, though they will eventually get filtered out through the station’s ventilation system, Whitson said. “Everything is going to be in your face,” she said.

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The attempt was a test for the company’s plan to launch satellites into space in the following years and followed five years of development on the 21.3-metre LauncherOne rocket. Flames shoot from a rocket which has just been dropped from beneath the wing of a jumbo jet. Virgin Orbit’s rocket fired briefly after being dropped from beneath the wing of a jumbo jet. There was no immediate info on what went wrong with the rocket, which carried a test satellite, or on whether it had broken up or fallen into the sea.

The failed test provided a ”treasure trove” of data. The modified jumbo jet took off from Mojave Air and Space Port in the desert north of Los Angeles, and flew towards the Channel Islands, in the Pacific Ocean, where the drop occurred. After taking off from Mojave, Cosmic Girl will fly due southwest to our drop point just south of the Channel Islands. Once we reach the drop point, we’ll enter into a loop that we call the “racetrack” as we wait for final go/no-gos. The rocket was planned to fall for a few seconds before the first two stages ignited and propelled it down the coast toward Antarctica Landform before its demonstration payload gets an entry into a low Earth orbit.

Virgin Orbit now had a “treasure trove” of data, according to chief executive Dan Hart. He said, “We accomplished many of the goals we set for ourselves, though not as many as we would have liked. Nevertheless, we took a big step forward today. Our engineers are already pouring through the data. Our next rocket is waiting. We will learn, adjust, and begin preparing for our next test, which is coming up soon.”

Virgin Orbit’s vice-president for special projects Will Pomerantz said during a pre-flight briefing on Saturday that about half of first rocket launches fail. “History is not kind, necessarily, to maiden flights. There had been numerous tests to verify that the system was ready. In the end, the questions are always, has everything been thought about and are there any gaps or seams. Those are the questions you only learn when you commit to a flight.”

A rocket with Launcher One written on the side is attached underneath the wing of a Virgin branded 747.
How long the setback will affect the finances is not now clear. It has six additional rockets still under construction in its factory. A successful launch by Virgin Orbit could have marked a dramatic step in getting back on track after the coronavirus pandemic sent most employees home earlier this year.

The time is just right for small satellite launch market that is why Virgin Orbit is targeting for launching satellites ranging in every size from small toasters to as big as household refrigerators. As told by Mr.Hart, the flight crew is preparing to board the aircraft. Cosmic Girl is piloted by Chief Test Pilot Kelly Latimer, who has been the wind beneath company wings throughout the entire flight test program. Technological advancements have enabled satellites much smaller than traditional payloads to do “real work” in space and for markets ranging from commercial to national security.

While other companies are developing rockets for the small satellite market, and builders of big rockets like SpaceX can carry them into orbit in a ride-share arrangement with large satellites, Virgin Orbit’sOrbit’s air-launch system, based on the aviation industry workhorse 747, is intended to put a satellite up when and where a customer needs it. Virgin can fly to space from any place that can host a 747, which is almost any place, Mr Hart said.

Space company has plenty of work lined up for Virgin Orbit as it has many missions on the books for customers which include US Space Force and Britain’sBritain’s RAF. It is working internationally on plans for launches from the UK & Japan.

Mr Hart provided no specific dollar value for the missions, just called it “hundreds of millions”. Air launch technology dates back decades to X-15 rocket planes in the 1950s and ’60s’60s. For satellites, the method currently in use is Northrop Grumman’sGrumman’s Pegasus rocket program, which had dozen of launches since 1990.

Virgin Galactic has been preparing to begin flights carrying passengers into the lower reaches of space from southern New Mexico. Headquartered in Long Beach, California, Virgin Orbit started as a sister company of Virgin Galactic but has since separated.

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This following post will give specific tips to help maximize the effectiveness of using Google Classroom while remote learning.

What is Google Classroom

Not everyone has the necessary training or been given a complete explanation of what Google Classroom is. Google Classroom is an integral part of applications by G Suite for Education. Google Classroom is NOT the term for using various Google tools in the classroom. Google Classroom is an app for both mobile and web. The Google Classroom application is made to help students and teachers communicate and collaborate, manage assignments paperlessly, and stay organized. Google Classroom is an excellent platform for students to support remote learning.

The following tips are just best practices with Google Classroom, no matter when or how you are using it. But others are much more specifically designed to help teachers use this tool during this time of remote learning.

1. Collaborate with Other Teachers for a Consistent Workflow

One of the best things you can do to help your students (and parents) is to collaborate with the teachers in the grade level and on your campus to be consistent for all students. If every teacher is doing something different, this only complicates things further. This streamlines things for students who have multiple teachers. Students who only have one teacher may have siblings in other grades. If all the children in the home receive a consistent message, workflow, and checklist, it will be that much easier on students and parents, and YOU, the teacher. For example, organize Google Classroom with a similar topic strategy, as the one suggested in #3. Must use similar weekly checklists and communications methods to eliminate excuses and confusion. Must avoid sending students to different locations and websites to get assignments and communication from your teachers. If students and teachers are all using Google Classroom, use it consistently. Make Google Classroom your one-stop-shop for jobs, announcements, and discussion.

2. Use a Checklist for Daily and Weekly

Depending on the requirements of the school, this could be a daily checklist or a weekly checklist. The latter option seems to be more prevalent and succinct. For elementary, this might be an all-subject checklist. In secondary, this is most likely by subject. How you create a checklist is up to you. This could be a simple a Google Sheet, Google Doc list, added to a Google Slide, or just listed in the assignment. Some schools and teachers are getting detailed, but keeping things simple will be easier for you, your students, and your parents. With either of the above types of checklists, you require to assign through Google Classroom and “make a copy” for every student. If teachers need to make a copy of the checklist for every student who is recommended, you should add the option before you assign it to students. If you don’t, you might have to delete the assignment and start over. Students cannot choose the make a copy option after they have already assigned it.

3. Use a Weekly Topic to Organize Assignments

Under normal circumstances, I would usually recommend a variety of topics to address the needs of individual teachers and students, but right now, we need simplicity. From the Classwork page, you can create topics to organize assignments and materials. Since many schools are embracing a weekly assignment strategy, creating a theme for the week is very logical. If the school is still distributing many assignments per day, try using a “TODAY” topic. Click on the “Create” button, after that select “Topic.” Create a topic for the week, like “Weekly Assignments Due May 25,” to also make it clear when these assignments are due.

4. Create “Resources and Tutorials Topic” and Keep it at the top of the Classwork Page

As you try to assist parents and students at home, you might find yourself sharing and cheat sheets, creating tutorials, and other resources. Make it easy to find by creating a unique topic and keeping the item at the top of the page.
Tip: Click-and-drag to move around and organize the Classwork. I will suggest keeping the resource topic at the top, and the subject of the weekly assignment for the current week in the number 2 spot.

5. Differentiate Assignments

While creating an assignment in Google Classroom, you have the option to select “All Students,” or you can just click the drop-down and choose a student or a group. It comes in handy for modifications as trying to meet the needs of all students. Google Classroom provides teachers the ability to differentiate assignments. Every student doesn’t have to receive the same task at the same time. While creating a new assignment, click on the drop-down arrow of students and uncheck “all students,” only check the students who need that particular assignment.
It is excellent for group differentiation, as well as modifications, PBL, and even enrichment.

6. Bookmarking the Classwork Page

Google Classroom tip can save you time! Navigation in Google Classroom might be frustrating and take a click to get where you want to go. Since the majority of time will be spent on the Classwork page, bookmarking it is recommended. In Google Chrome, you may add it to the bookmarks bar for your quick access. To enable the bookmarks bar, click 3 dots near the top-right in Chrome, select bookmarks, and make sure the bookmarks bar is enabled. You should simply click-and-drag the lock next to the URL in the Omnibox to add the bookmark to the bar.
Right-click on the bookmark to edit the name or shorten it.

7. Use Keyboard Shortcut: Cntrl + F to Find Words and Numbers in Classroom

Even the organized Classwork page can become long after weeks of assignments. To use the keyboard shortcut, do this, Control + F (Command + F on a mac), to help search for assignment numbers and keywords on the page.

8. Adjust Student Permissions

The Google Classroom allows students to post and comment in the Stream as default. During remote learning, you might find the feature helpful, or it might be causing issues. You decide what is best for students. Posts are questions, ideas, or information that students share. Students may add files like images, links, or YouTube videos to their positions. Comments are text-only responses to the posts. Students can not edit their posts or comments, but students can delete them. Teachers can remove any of the posts or comments and see deleted posts and comments.

9. Customizing the Stream

Teachers may get annoyed with the Stream, where we post announcements and see notifications of new items that have been added to the Classwork page. Teachers may customize what appears on the page for each class. Inside the level, go the settings icon near the top-right and scroll down to the “General” Sections. The Stream is the Google Classroom communication hub. This is where we post announcements and keep students informed. By default, the Stream may also show notifications of new items posted on the classwork page. For some, this might feel like duplication and can muddy up the Stream. If we are using the Classwork page, we can choose a collapsed or expanded view for Classwork notifications on the Stream page. We can hide them entirely from the Stream page. Go to classroom.google.com. Click the class. Click Settings, on the Stream page, next to Classwork on the Stream, Under General, select the option as required.

10. Customize Notifications to Preserve Sanity!

Teachers have a love and hate relationship with Google Classroom notifications. We may customize in the settings by Going to the main menu, three lines in the top left corner. We are selecting Settings at the bottom of the menu.
Scrolling down to the bottom and click the drop-down arrow to see all of the notification options for each class. Toggle them on and off to fit the needs. As we learn and adapt during the remote learning time, please remember it is new to everyone. Take a deep breath and accept that it is not going to be perfect. Google Classroom might not do everything on your wishlist. Good God… no one trained us to do, and send virtual hugs to your students who miss you!

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Automatically Start Up And Shut Down

Probably one of the simplest ways to automate your life when using your Mac is to automatically startup and shut down. If you start up your Mac every morning and shut it down every evening, this can be done with a simple change.

Open System Preference and navigate to the Energy Saver preference pane. In the bottom right-hand corner, there will be an option called ‘Schedule.’ Click on this button to open the scheduling options.

You can pick the day of the week in which you wake will startup and the time. You can also limit this change to a weekend, weekday, or a specific day of the week. You can also set what time your Mac will shut down or go to sleep.

There are a variety of options within System Preferences to set how your computer starts up and shuts down.

These are handy options, for example, if you want your Mac to start up Monday morning and shut down Friday evening. You can’t get more complicated than that, unfortunately, but it is useful for most people’s needs. These options will allow you to wake your Mac if it is asleep. There is also an option to restart your Mac. If you want to reset your Mac every Sunday, you can do that with these options. Just make sure your Mac is powered to the wall, or in case of a laptop, has charge.

Log In Automatically

If you have set your Mac to start up automatically, you may also want it to log in automatically. Although I don’t recommend this for security reasons, it can quickly be done. Within System Preferences, open the Users & Groups tab.

At the bottom of the users’ column, select Login Options. Within the options, you can choose which user will be automatically logged in. If you can’t access the settings, click on the lock at the bottom. You will be asked to enter your password. Once complete, every time you boot up your Mac, it will log in to the selected user.

Don’t bother logging in each morning. Let your Mac do it.

Set Apps To Launch At Login

Once you have set your Mac to automatically start up each morning, log your in, the last option is to let it open your apps for yours. I always have Mail, Safari, Calendar, and other apps option each morning. Instead of wasting your time clicking on each one, you Mac can be set to open this upon logging in.

Within System Preferences, Users & Groups, select the login items tab for the required user. Use the plus symbol at the bottom of the list to add the applications you want.

You may notice in this list a couple of apps that you may not recognize, most of these are daemons or background processes that need to be started for certain functionality to run. If you find an app on the list, you don’t want, and it can be removed with the minus symbol.

Now every time you log on, these apps will launch.

Set Automator Actions To Run On A Specific Date

The previous tips and tricks are essential, built-in features of you, Mac. This next section is going to explain various methods, which you can customize at will, to perform multiple tasks automatically. The list shows some basic commands which the majority of people will find useful. However, these can be as complex or as simple as you want. All you need is a little bit of imagination.

Each of these tasks uses an Automator script, which is executed at a particular time due to a calendar entry. By altering the calendar entry, we can adjust the time in which the script runs. Automator allows it to be used as a programming language to perform the task we want.

Every command follows the same essential step. First, open Automator and select the Calendar Alarm option. This will automatically put the workflow into Calendar when complete. You can set this up manually if you have other workflows within Calendar, however, these options take out most of the hassle.

Use the Calendar option within Automator to automatically add a calendar workflow entry.

This next step is to build your workflow as usual. The following section will detail a variety of workflows that you can use. When you have finished and tested the workflows. Hit save. You will be asked for a name. When you have done so, its entry will appear within Calendar under the Automator calendar heading. Here you can set the time, re-occurrence, and other parameters associated with a calendar entry. The unique thing about this entry is that it will automatically execute the workflow you have just created, acting.

Your automation workflow will automatically be added to your Calendar.

These workflows are stored in ~/Library/Workflows/Applications/Calendar/ if you ever want to delete them.

Play A Wake Up Song

Following on from the previous section, we have started our Mac, logged on, and opened all of the required applications. Lets now play our favorite tunes to get us going in the morning. Within Automator, select the workflow, select the “Start iTunes Playing” Automator action. This will automatically start playing your tunes. If you want to play a specific iTunes playlist, add the “Get Specified iTunes items” workflow (where you pick you playlist using the add button) and then select the ‘Play iTunes Playlist’ workflow. This will load your playlist and begin playing.

Set up the playlist you want to play.

Open A Webpage

Do you always open Mac Tricks And Tips each morning, you can easily do this with a workflow. Add the ‘Get Specified URL’ workflow and add your URL you want to open. Then add the ‘Display Webpages’ workflow action. When activated, this will get the URL’s you have added and then open them. You can add more than one.

Archive Files

You have finished a hard day’s work, and you want to archive your data. Even though you should be using something like Time Machine, it can be worth creating a zip of your files. Within Automator, first, add the ‘Ask For Finder Items’ workflow. This will bring up a dialog box which asks for the Finder items you want to archive. Then add the ‘Get Folder Contents’ workflow, followed by the ‘Create Archive’ option.

Archive the days work with a workflow.

This will select the Finder items, and add them to an archive. If you want to extend this further, you can email it to someone, and this can be done with the ‘New Mail Message’ with the field filled out, followed by the ‘Add Attachment To Front Message’ option. Credit goes to Stu.

Quit Applications

If you have had enough for the day, you can automatically quit every application. Within Automator, select the ‘Quit All Applications’ workflow. This will, when run, stopped every application open, although it will ask you to save files. You can add entries into the list for apps it won’t close, such as Mail or Safari.

Empty Trash

Another handy Automator trick which you can run it the ability to empty your trash. This may be useful to run at the end of the week or month. This command takes a little bit more effort in the form of an AppleScript. Add the ‘Run Applescript’ workflow option and add the following text:

tell application “Finder”.

empty the trash
end tell

If you want to empty the trash securely you can use the following piece of Applescript.

tell application “Finder”
empty trash with security
end tell

When you run the workflow, the AppleScript will run allowing you to empty the trash.

Set Desktop Image

If you want the latest image from NASA’s picture of the day, you can. This workflow can be a little trick to setup, but only takes a moment. Test this workflow to ensure it works. The idea behind this is we pull the image we want from cyberspace, then set it as our image. If the image you are pulling is part of an RSS use this workflow. If the image you want is from a URL use the second option.

To pull an image from an RSS feed or similar add the following workflows.

“Get specified URL’s” adding the URL of the RSS feed. Add ‘Get Image URL’s from Articles” set the drop down option to either ‘in the articles’ or ‘linked from the articles’. This alters the way the script interacts with the RSS feed, test to see which one is applicable. The add the ‘Download URL’s’ option selecting a place to download the image, your image folder is suitable. The add the ‘Set Desktop Picture’. If you are downloading the image from a webpage, and not an RSS feed, add the URL of the image to the first workflow. Instead of ‘Get Image URL’s from Articles’ add the ‘Get Image URL’s from Webpage’, this means it pulls the image from a webpage instead of an RSS feed. You just need to find an image which updated every day. Setting an image automatically can be a little tricky. But worth it.

Launch Applications

Previously we showed how to quit applications. What happens if you want to launch applications, but at a specific time, for example at lunch. This can easily be done within Automator. Simply add the ‘Launch Application’ workflow. Select the application you want to launch. If you want to launch more than one app, keep adding the workflow.

System Clean Up

As a final note, an application which allows you to run more complex clean up operations is Main Menu. Although you can’t set it to automatically run at a specific time, it gives you plenty of shortcuts to run more complex tasks such as cleaning caches or running disk checks.

Conclusion

There are many ways to automate your life on your Mac. These are just a couple of simple ones to help you understand what can be done. Like a teacher I have showed you the basic tools, all you need to do is build your own for you specific needs. These tools are simple to build and can automate the most basic needs. Automate your life and allow yourself to do something more interesting.

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NASA

We might not be aware that Linux powers NASA. Pleiades supercomputer of NASA runs Linux. The International Space Station changed, or you may say they switched from Windows to Linux six years ago due to the reliability of the operating system. NASA recently deployed three “Astrobee” robots—which run on the Linux—to the International Space Station.

eReaders

We read a great deal, and we go-to device is the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite, which runs Linux (though most people are entirely unaware of that fact). If we use Amazon’s services—from Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) to Fire TV—we are automatically running on it. When we ask Alexa what time it is, or for the score of our favorite sports team, we are also using it, since Alexa is powered by Fire OS (an Android-based operating system). Google developed Android as it for mobile handsets, and powers 76% of today’s mobile phones.

TV

If we have a TiVo, we are also running Linux. If we are a Roku user, then we are using Linux. Roku OS is one of the custom version of it, which is specifically for Roku devices. We may opt to use Chromecast—which runs on Linux—for video streaming. It likely runs smart TV. LG uses webOS, which is also based on the kernel of Linux. It doesn’t just power streaming devices and set-top boxes, though. Panasonic uses Firefox OS, which is based on the Linux kernel. Phillips, Samsung, and many use Linux-based operating systems to power devices.

Laptops and Smartwatches

If we own a smartwatch, it’s more likely that it is also running on it. School systems in the world have been implementing one-to-one systems where each child is provided their laptop—a rapidly increasing number of institutions outfit students with a Chromebook. The lightweight laptops use Chrome OS, which is also based on it.

Cars

The car driven by us might well be running Linux. Automotive-Grade Linux has enlisted manufacturers like Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, and Volkswagen in the project that sees it as the standard code base for most of the high priced automobiles. Our in-vehicle infotainment system and utilities likely run it.

Gaming

If we are a gamer, then we might be using SteamOS, which is a Linux-based operating system. Also, if we use any of Google’s myriad of services, then we are running on it.

Social media

As we start scrolling and commenting, we may realize what a lot of work these platforms are doing. Perhaps it is not so surprising that Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter all run on it. The new wave of social media and decentralized, federated nodes of connected communities like Nextcloud Social, Mastodon, GNU Social, microblogging platforms similar to Twitter, Peertube (distributed video sharing), and Pixelfed (distributed photo sharing) run on it. Being open-source, they can each run on any platform, which is influential precedence in itself.

Businesses and governments

The Stock Exchanges run on Linux, as does the Pentagon. The Federal Aviation Administration handles over 16 million flights a year, and they operate on it. The Library of Congress, Senate, House of Representatives, and White House use it.

Retail sector

That entertainment system placed in the seatback on our latest flight is likely running on Linux. The point of sale at our favorite store may be running it. Tizen OS, based on it, powers a long list of smart home devices. Many public libraries host their integrated library systems on Evergreen and Koha. Both systems run on it.

Apple

If we are an iOS user who uses iCloud, then we are using a system that runs on Linux. Apple Computer website runs on it.

Routers

The router that connects you to the internet in your home may be running Linux.

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While it’s challenging to protect the home from professional thieves, most home burglaries are conducted by amateurs. These thieves are more easily destroyed if you employ some of the following simple security precautions and tips:

You must plan to “burglarize” yourself and your home. You’ll discover many weaknesses in the security system of the house that may have previously been escaping your notice.

Lock up the home, even if you go out only for a short time. Many burglars walk in through an unlocked door or window.

Change all the locks when you move and start living in a new house. For the most effective alarm system, you must conceal all the wiring. A professional burglar looks for places where the disconnection of the security system be done.

Your house must appear occupied at all times around the day, i.e., 24×7. Use timers to switch on and off lights and radios during the day when you’re not at home or your children are alone at home.

If you have a faulty alarm that frequently goes off, get it fixed immediately and tell your neighbors that it’s been repaired. Many people ignore a warning that goes off periodically, leaving that possibility for the thieves to use it as an ignoring factor for the neighbors during an emergency.

A spring-latch lock is one of the natural prey for the burglars who are also “loiding” experts. Loiding is the technique most commonly used by the burglars of slipping a plastic credit card or a scale against the latch tongue to press it and thereby unlocking the door.

A deadbolt defies any attack of such an extent. It is vulnerable when there is enough space between the door and the frame connected with it. It allows the intruder to use power tools or a hacksaw for easy to go through.

If you lose the keys of the door, change the locks immediately, rather than making a new key duplicate for the old door lock.
Before turning the house key for several hours over to a professional house cleaner, you must make sure the person whom you are trusting with keys, is reputable and honest as well as hardworking.

Check all references of the person thoroughly. If the house cleaner or private personnel is from a firm, call your local Bureau to check on the firm’s reputation of the person.
Instead of keeping a spare key under the doormat, in a mailbox, on a nail behind the garage, or wrap the key in foil — or put it in a 35mm film can to be buried where you may easily find it when you need it.

You must not leave notes for family members or service people on the door. These acts of yours will work as a welcome gesture for a burglar.

If the entrances to the home are dark, you must consider installing lighting with the infrared detector. All the thieves don’t want to be observed trying to get in a door or inside a house. Talk to your neighbors about any of the suspicious activities, people, or strange cars you notice lurking around your surroundings.

If you want to keep the tools from being stolen, you must paint the handles. Thieves avoid easily identifiable items. Trees located near the windows or shrubbery that might shield a burglar from view can be major flaws in your home protection plan.

Consider the landscaping plan in light of the new and urgent protection needs. You must ask for credentials from any of the sales-person who requests entry into your home. Ask that their ID should be pushed under the door. Many professional burglars use this cover to check outhouses. If you are a bit doubtful, you must check with the person’s office before letting him in your home.
You must not list the full name on the mailbox or the entry in the telephone book of your home. Use only the initials and the last name or surname.

If someone comes to the door pleading to use the phone the police or to call a mechanic, keep the door locked and make the call yourself.

Dogs are good deterrents to burglars. Even a small, noisy dog can be active — burglars do not like to have attention drawn to their presence. Be aware. However, obedience training and attack training are entirely different, and trained guard dogs do not make good pets. And only former types of dogs are appropriate for a house pet.

Securing Doors

To help burglar-proof your home and surroundings, install 1-inch throw deadbolt locks with all exterior doors of the houses.

A door with considerable space between the door and the frame gives an invitation to the burglar to use a jimmy for the situation. They are reinforcing the door with the panel of a 3/4-inch piece of sheet metal or plywood.

If there are some door hinges on the outside of the house, take down the door and reset the straps inside. Otherwise, all the thieves have to do and gain entry into the home is to knock out the hinge pin.

You can make a burglar-proof glass patio door by setting a pipe or a metal bar in the middle bottom track of your door slide. The pipeline should be the same length as the track. A metal bar or pipe or may be used to the burglar-proof patio door.

It will be easier for the burglar to pry through rot doors. Replace all the rotted door frames with new or solid wood.

It will be comfortable for a thief to break glass panels to reach inside and can open a doorknob from the inside. The old door with glass panels must be either replaced, fortified, or secured with deadbolts, which may only be opened with the given key.

Securing the Windows

They are protecting the windows with one or more safety locks, burglar-resistant glass, an alarm system, or many panes instead of a large area of glass.

While installing the window lock, you must drip some molten solder on the screw heads. This will stop a burglar from unscrewing the bolt after cutting a small hole through the windowpane.

In the following paragraph, let us focus on the extraordinary steps to take to keep your home secure while you’re away.

Garage and Home Security

Garages present particular challenges for home security. Here are a few tips to keep the garage secure.

If you frost or cover the garage windows, burglars won’t be able to tell if the car is gone.

The door of the garage must be kept closed and locked even when the car is there in the garage.

You must install a peephole in the door that separates the house from the garage. So when you hear suspicious sounds, you can check without opening the door.

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If one uses that simple password in one’s multiple accounts, as a reported 92 percent of online users do—that puts all of the data at risk. Here are some tips to ensure passwords are as secure as possible.

MAKE PASSWORD LONG

Hackers use many and invariably multiple methods to try to get into the accounts. The most common, simple, old, and rudimentary way is to get into the report personally, target, and manually type in numbers, letters, and symbols to guess the personal password. The more advanced method which is now being used is known as a “brute force attack.” In this password hacking technique, a computer program is run through every possible combination of numbers, letters, and symbols as fast as possible to crack the password. The longer and more varied complex the password is, the longer the hacking process takes. Passwords that are three characters long take a few milliseconds to crack.

MAKE PASSWORD A NONSENSE PHRASE

Long passwords are better; long passwords that include random phrases and words are better. If the letter combinations are not in the dictionary, the expressions are not in published literature, and none of them is grammatically correct, and they will be harder to crack. Also, never use characters that are in series and sequential on the keyboard, such as the widely used “qwerty” or numbers in order.

NUMBERS, SYMBOLS, AND UPPERCASE AND LOWERCASE LETTERS MUST BE INCLUDED

Randomly mix up numbers and symbols with alphabets. Substitution method should be put to use, such as a user may substitute @ for the letter A or a zero for the letter O. If the password is a phrase, consider capitalizing the first letter of each next new word, which will be easier for the user to recall.

AVOID OBVIOUS PERSONAL INFORMATION

If there is some information about the easily discoverable user—such as anniversary, birthday, address, high school, city of birth, and relatives’ and pets’ names— do not include them in password. These only make user passwords easier to guess and break. On this note, if the user is required to choose security questions and answers while creating an online account, select ones that are not so obvious for someone browsing social accounts.

DO NOT FREQUENTLY REUSE SAME PASSWORDS

When hackers complete large-scale hackings, as they have recently done with the lists of compromised email addresses, accessible email servers, and passwords are leaked online very often. If a user account is compromised and the user uses this password and email address combination on multiple sites, the information can be easily used to get into any of the other social or bank accounts. Therefore, it is advised to use unique passwords for everything and every account.

START USING A PASSWORD MANAGER

Password managers are services that help auto-generate and store secure passwords on user’s behalf. These passwords are kept in a centralized location, in an encrypted way which user can access with a master password. But surely don’t lose that master one. Many services are free to use and accompanied by optional features such as auditing user password behavior, ensuring users are not using the same one in too many locations, and syncing new passwords across multiple devices.

KEEP PASSWORD UNDER WRAPS

Don’t give passwords to anyone else. Don’t type the password into the device if the user is within plain sight of other people. And do not plaster user password on a sticky note on work desk or computer. If the user is storing a list of user passwords—or even better, a password hint sheet—name the file something random on the computer in a document file, so it isn’t a dead giveaway to smart snoopers.

CHANGE PASSWORDS REGULARLY

The more sensitive information is, the more often one should change the password. Once changed, do not use that password again for a more extended period.

Hackers could keep trying to crack user passwords no matter how strong the user makes them. So, maintain safety.

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What you can do is help minimize the negative impact on your child, while encouraging good internet use to maximize the benefits.

Some Useful Tips to Remember

Internet not at all bad

Researches have shown that there are many benefits for young people who are going online. It can be use to connect with friends and relatives to getting piano lessons or finding some clues for your homework, as it provides a sea of opportunities for research, education and enrichment. You may now only have to find out what children are using on internet and focus on positives of the net.
An internet cannot be banned completely. This is next to impossible when access is so widely available and required too. It is likely to be counter-productive, encourage to be secretive rather than open use. It will be denying factor, the many benefits the internet has to offer.

Be age-appropriate

All the suggestions below need to be age-adapted. Young children usually like attention from you and don’t own their device, whereas teenagers may find it intrusive and stick to their screens. Balance respecting their desire for privacy. You can do this by to let them understand you’re present there in every step and they can talk to them anytime. With younger children, use devices’ with parental controls. Whatever their age, agree with any restrictions together.

Keep talking

Being open to discuss any topic or matter in an appropriate way according to their respective age, is key to help them stay safe while on internet. It helps to ensure children may come to you if they are in trouble about their online activities or what they have seen, or vice versa.

Using internet by sitting alongside child

When you are online with your child, it encourages social rather than private use and gives chance to discuss about staying safe while online. Show a respect towards the interest in what the child is doing, even if they want to use the internet.

Good sleep habits should be promoted

Encourage to turn off screens at least 1 hour before sleeptime. Phones, laptops, etc. sholu be left out of the bedroom and a separate alarm clock must be bought to wake up. Be an example to lead.

Encouraging active use

Actively involved in doing things, like responding or creating Facebook posts, will have a positive impact on health and wellbeing. Passive use such as scrolling without interacting can lower wellbeing and life satisfaction.

Break the ‘filter bubbles’

Online companies check on you through algorithms to show you things matching to what see on the net during surfing through it. The algorithm reinforces current interests rather than suggesting you new topics. You must teach your child how to interrupt these by searching for new questions of interest.

Talk to child about body image

It is sometimes difficult for children and adults to distinguish between what’s a healthy body image and what’s not. Try to normalize diversity because people come in different shapes and sizes, there isn’t one ideal body shape, and beauty comes in many various forms, not just airbrushed or filtered ‘perfection.’ If you watch a TV or online program together, you can point out unrealistic things.

Promote healthy sexual attitudes

It is difficult though to speak to your child about sex, they must not get their information from the internet because this can lead to distorted expectations. If you see something unrealistic, therefore make sure that they know it.

Look for warning signs

You must notice a change in your child’s behavior, while spending more time alone in room, or not meeting friends, or mood shift , sit and talk to them about the concerns. Make sure as a parent you know what help is out there through medical or internet or seek advice from school.

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