OSnews Archive

Payment security is changing due to blockchain’s growing use in safe online transactions across industries.  This technique guarantees transaction security, transparency, and immutability.  Understanding Blockchain Technology Blockchain is a decentralized ledger that securely logs transactions across numerous computers, making it very impossible to tamper with or change data.  Verified transactions that are immutable once locked are contained in every block of the chain, guaranteeing transparency and confidence.  This approach improves transparency and security by eliminating centralized control. Thanks to blockchain’s transparency, everyone may take part in transaction validation, as each completed transaction is documented on a public ledger for simple tracking.  Users can manage their assets with digital wallets, which offer a quick and safe way to conduct online transactions.  All things considered, blockchain’s structure protects data integrity, making it a reliable option for safe online operations. Blockchain’s Impact on the Gaming Industry Blockchain technology is transforming the gaming sector by increasing online transaction security and transparency.  By guaranteeing safe and effective payment processing, blockchain becomes relevant across genres, including US casino gaming platforms, esports, and NFT-based games. It lowers the possibility of fraud and guarantees equitable gameplay.  Blockchain generates a tamper-proof system advantageous to operators and players by decentralizing transaction records.  Additionally, because they offer quick, private, and affordable options, cryptocurrencies like Ethereum and Bitcoin are quickly gaining traction as payment options in online gaming.  Blockchain is becoming an essential part of the future of online gaming businesses as more use it to streamline their operations and establish confidence.  This expanding role emphasizes how blockchain might change online transactions in several industries, including gaming. Enhancing Payment Security with Blockchain Blockchain uses cryptography to prevent fraud and theft, which greatly improves the security of Internet transactions.  Because of its immutability, data cannot be changed once it is captured, prohibiting illegal changes.  Blockchain-enhanced identification verification lowers identity theft in financial transactions, while tokenization further protects data by substituting unique identifiers for crucial payment details.  The seamless conversion between fiat money and cryptocurrencies made possible by blockchain’s integration with conventional banking institutions expedites safe payment procedures.  Biometric technology, such as fingerprint scanning and facial recognition, are increasingly integrated into mobile wallets to enhance security.  Furthermore, dynamic QR codes have increased the security and effectiveness of QR-based payments by providing real-time updates and fraud protection. Financial Institutions and Blockchain  Blockchain is being used by financial organizations more and more to improve payment security and lower data breaches.  Because blockchain technology is decentralized, hackers are unable to exploit a single point of weakness.  Smart contract implementation expedites the response to questionable activity and automates the identification of fraud.  Blockchain’s real-time transaction monitoring makes it possible to quickly identify transactions that might be fraudulent.  Blockchain’s advantages may potentially be used by Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) to increase the effectiveness and security of payments.  Because of blockchain’s immutability, data cannot be changed once it is recorded, maintaining the reliability and correctness of transaction logs and assisting with anti-money laundering initiatives by enhancing identity verification. Securing E-commerce Transactions with Blockchain Because blockchain technology offers a distributed ledger that safeguards online transactions, it is revolutionizing e-commerce.  Its unchangeable record-keeping lowers fraud and increases customer confidence. Blockchain simplifies payment processing by enabling safe, direct transfers between parties without the need for middlemen.  Tokenization, which replaces critical payment data with a special code that cannot be decrypted to disclose original details like credit card numbers, is a crucial component of this security.  This prevents intercepted data from being useful. Blockchain facilitates blockchain-oriented payment gateways and safe payment methods like stablecoins and cryptocurrencies.  These advances increase the general effectiveness of e-commerce payment procedures while shielding customers from fraudulent transactions. Blockchain in Supply Chain Management Blockchain technology is revolutionizing supply chain management. It offers a distributed ledger that improves transparency and enables real-time product tracking.  By facilitating the process of authenticating products and confirming their origins, this technology enhances consumer trust and encourages ethical business practices.  Pharmaceutical companies stand to gain a great deal from blockchain’s capacity to control drug recalls and guarantee the legitimacy of medications.  Blockchain lowers costs, increases transactional efficiency, and streamlines supply chain procedures by doing away with the need for middlemen.  By automating payments between parties, smart contracts improve operations even further.  Platforms such as MediLedger demonstrate how smart contracts can automate contract execution and product verification while guaranteeing compliance with intricate rules. Real-World Applications of Blockchain in Various Industries Blockchain technology is revolutionizing online transaction security in a number of different sectors.  Solutions like Medicalchain enable users to restrict access, improving data security in the healthcare industry and providing individuals with control over their personal records.  Through programs like Embleema, blockchain is also expediting virtual trials while guaranteeing the safe management of patient data.  Companies like Propy are using blockchain in real estate to build safe, transparent systems for tracking property ownership, which lowers fraud.  These systems show how blockchain may improve security, streamline procedures, and foster trust amongst many businesses.  Because of its decentralized, unchangeable ledger, which guarantees data accuracy and lifespan, businesses and customers involved in digital markets or services can both profit. Advanced Security Measures with Blockchain Preventing security breaches in blockchain technology requires the use of sophisticated security mechanisms.  Multi-factor authentication (MFA), which necessitates several verification techniques for access and transaction confirmation, is one of the essential elements.  Asymmetric encryption depends on a special pair of keys to increase security, whereas symmetric encryption uses the same key for both encryption and decryption.  Payment data is encrypted while it is transmitted to prevent information from being intercepted without the decryption key.  A digital signature is a feature of every blockchain transaction that helps to further prevent manipulation.  Furthermore, the consensus mechanism makes sure that all of the network nodes validate transactions before adding them to the ledger, protecting private information and preventing fraud and illegal access to online transactions. Future Trends in Blockchain and Online Payment Security Blockchain technology advancements portend a promising future for online payment security.  Future innovations are expected

A coalition of EU software and cloud businesses joined Nextcloud GmbH in respect of their formal complaint to the European Commission about Microsoft’s anti-competitive behavior in respect of its OneDrive (cloud) offering. In a repeat from earlier monopolistic actions, Microsoft is bundling its OneDrive, Teams and other services with Windows and aggressively pushing consumers to sign up and hand over their data to Microsoft. This limits consumer choice and creates a barrier for other companies offering competing services. I mean, anything to reign in the power of these massive technology companies, but I’m not sure browser choice screens and versions without Windows Media Player are the way to go. I want a more permanent solution – just like we’ve done countless times in the past, break these massive companies up into various smaller pieces that have to compete on merit, instead of being propped up by one or two deeply entrenched money-printing products.

Alan Kay said: “Simple things should be simple, complex things should be possible”. This sentence was the inspiration for the founder of RT-Thread to stick to his beliefs. RT-Thread is an open source embedded real-time operating system, and this project started in 2006. I know you have no idea what RT-Thread is, but you are using an IoT OS system now, that’s where this article may be of interest. Let’s take a quick tour of RT-Thread. RT-Thread: background RT-Thread, short for Real Time-Thread, is, as its name implies, an embedded real-time multi-threaded operating system. One of its basic properties is to support multitasking. Allowing multiple tasks to run at the same time does not mean that the processor actually performs multiple tasks at the same time. In fact, a processor core can only run one task at a time. Every task is executed quickly, and through the task scheduler (the scheduler determines the sequence according to priority), the tasks are switched rapidly, which gives the illusion that multiple tasks are running at the same time. In the RT-Thread system, the task is implemented by threads. The thread scheduler in RT-Thread is the task scheduler mentioned above. RT-Thread is mainly written in C, making it easy to understand and easy to port. It applies object-oriented programming methods to real-time system design, making the code elegant, structured, modular, and tailorable. For resource-constrained Microcontroller Unit (MCU) systems, the NANO version of RT-Thread (tailored from the standard version of RT-Thread), which requires only 3KB of flash and 1.2KB of RAM, can be tailored with easy-to-use tools. For resource-rich IoT devices, RT-Thread can use the online software package management tool, together with system configuration tools, to achieve intuitive and rapid modular cutting, seamlessly import rich software feature packs, thus achieving complex functions like Android’s graphical interface and touch sliding effects, smart voice interaction effects, and so on. RT-Thread’s architecture RT-Thread is not only a real-time kernel, but also has a rich middle-tier component, as shown in the following figure. It includes: The kernel layer: RT-Thread kernel, the core part of RT-Thread, includes the implementation of objects in the kernel system, such as multi-threading and its scheduling, semaphore, mailbox, message queue, memory management, timer, etc.; libcpu/BSP (Chip Migration Related Files/Board Support Package) is closely related to hardware and consists of peripheral drivers and CPU transport. The components and service layer: Components are based on upper-level software on top of the RT-Thread kernel, such as virtual file systems, FinSH command-line interfaces, network frameworks, device frameworks, and more. Its modular design allows for high internal cohesion within the assembly and low coupling between components. The RT-Thread software package: A general-purpose software component running on the RT-Thread IoT operating system platform for different application areas, consisting of description information, source code or library files. RT-Thread provides an open package platform with officially available or developer-supplied packages that provide developers with a choice of reusable packages that are an important part of the RT-Thread ecosystem. The package ecosystem is critical to the choice of an operating system because these packages are highly reusable and modular, making it easy for application developers to build the system they want in the shortest amount of time. RT-Thread supports more than 174 software packages. RT-Thread has launched more than a decade ago, and this is the first time we make an official self-introduction to the world, especially at the beginning of 2020, it feels great! We welcome suggestions for RT-Thread, and you can feel free to contact us on Twitter or send us an e-mail. And if you have any great ideas, you are very welcome to contribute to our Github.

The AlphaSmart dana is technically a Palm OS PDA, in the same way that Hannibal Lecter is technically a famous chef. The dana does run Palm OS 4.0, but it has almost reversed priorities from a normal PDA. For example, I drafted college essays on a dana, but never used the calendar or address book until I began writing this article. In contrast, Palm OS founder Jeff Hawkins distilled the average PDA user’s needs down to, “All I really care about is calendars and address book and trying to coordinate with my secretary.” Palm designed their operating system to organize a social schedule, but AlphaSmart Inc. used that codebase to create a device that focused on expression rather than organization. AlphaSmart was founded by ex-Apple employees who designed simplified computers for classrooms that couldn’t afford high end computers. AlphaSmart achieved these lower costs by hyperfocusing on composition. Those lower costs became irrelevant as laptop prices dropped, but the hyperfocus on composition itself has become more relevant in an era of distraction. If we consider the dana as a device for producing drafts, even its flaws are transformed into strengths.

Linux 5.1 released has just been released. The main feature in this release is io_uring, a high-performance interface for asynchronous I/O. There are also improvements in fanotify to provide a scalable way of watching changes on large file systems, and it adds a method to allow safe delivery of signals in presence of PID reuse. Persistent memory can be used now as hot-plugabble RAM, Zstd compression levels have been made configurable in Btrfs, and there is a new cpuidle governor that makes better power management decisions than the menu governor. In addition, all 32 bit architectures have added the necessary syscalls to deal with the y2038 problem; and live patching has added support for creating cumulative patches. There are many other features and new drivers in the KernelNewbies changelog.

When OSNews covered the RISC V architecture recently, I was struck by my own lack of excitement. I looked into it, and the project looks intriguing, but it didn’t move me on an emotional level like a new CPU architecture development would have done many years ago. I think it’s due to a change in myself, as I have got older. When I first got into computers, in the early 80s, there was a vibrant environment of competing designs with different approaches. This tended to foster an interest, in the enthusiast, in what was inside the box, including the CPU architecture. Jump forwards to the current era, and the computer market is largely homogenized to a single approach for each class of computing device, and this means that there is less to get excited about in terms of CPU architectures in general. I want to look at what brought about this change in myself, and maybe these thoughts will resonate with some of you.