After Wannacry, Petya Ransomware hits Europe. Kaspersky Lab names it NotPetya

Petya Ransomware
Source: Mihir
Just after the world got over with Wannacry ransomware, another Ransomware named Petya hits Europe, shutting down major firms in Ukraine, Britain and Spain. The cyber attack has crippled various big firms, major banks, oil companies, airports and government departments in Ukraine. Companies asked their employees to remove all the laptops and systems from docking stations and stay off the grid. Officials started reporting serious disruptions in the Ukranian power grid as the ransomware is spreading swiftly to various computers.

Romanian cybersecurity company Bitdefender- "A massive ransomware campaign is currently unfolding worldwide."

Many people posted pictures of their encrypted and locked systems on social networking sites, especially Twitter.



The major problem with Petya ransomware is that it does not have any Killswitch domain like Wannacry. Security experts are having a tough time in cracking this one. Petya ransomware is one notch above the previous ransomware Wannacry/Wannacrypt. The attack hijacks computer for a ransom by targeting its hard drive instead of individual files. According to Accenture, those behind Petya, who are demanding $300 via bitcoin, claimed to have received more than $4,000 so far.

World's largest internet security firm, Kaspersky Lab revealed one more interesting fact about the ransomware. According to them, systems in Russia and Ukraine are amongst the most heavily hit along with UK, Germany, Italy, US and France. Kaspersky Lab also added that this ransomware is not a variant of Petya but something different and new altogether and therefore named it NotPetya.
There is still very little information or data about how to stop this attack. Keeping one's system updated with all the security patches is the only option left.

Read More: P.M. Narendra Modi Trumps Nation By Demonetising Rs.500 & Rs.1000 notes, Twitter's Reaction | TechHoodoo | Mobile, Tech, Lifestyle, Startups, How-tos, Design and Auto Reviews
June 27, 2017 / / 0 comments /

P.M. Narendra Modi Trumps Nation By Demonetising Rs.500 & Rs.1000 notes, Twitter's Reaction

Narendra Modi
Credits: All India Bakchod
November 8, 2016: Prime Minister Narendra Modi took the nation by surprise and did a midnight surgical strike on Black Money by demonetising Rs.500 and Rs.1000 notes. The announcement came in as a strong measure to tackle the problem of black money and money laundering. From midnight these notes shall cease to be the legal tender and new notes of Rs,500 and Rs.2000 will be circulated in the market from November 10, 2016.

As a result, people took Twitter by storm and tweeted series of memes and jokes related to Rs.500 and Rs.1000 notes. Due to this #BlackMoney, #Currency, Rs.500 #paytmkaro started trending on Twitter India. Narendra Modi & Reserve Bank of India also topped the charts of Google Trends for quite some time.
Google Trends
Source: Google Trends
We compiled some hilarious and funny tweets by Twitteratis + some official tweets which will help you to understand how to deal with all the scrap of paper aka kaala dhan which many people must be having right now.




















Read More: PARIKSHA LITE: A Faster Way To Prepare Better For Placements Online | TechHoodoo | Mobile, Tech, Lifestyle, Startups, How-tos, Design and Auto Reviews
November 08, 2016 / / 0 comments /

Apple September 2016 Event Live Blog, iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus & everything else

Apple September 2016 event
Apple September 2016 event
Apple is about to launch its new line up of iPhones from Bill Graham Auditorium, in San Fransisco & we got it covered for you. Stay tuned for all the latest updates.
September 07, 2016 / / 0 comments /

Pokemon Uranium, The Fan Made Game That Took 9 Years To Complete Is Now Available For Free

Pokemon Uranium
Remember those days when we used to play Pokemon Red and Pokemon Blue on our Windows PCs? Well, now you are having a golden opportunity to relive those days by playing a brand new Pokemon game right on your Windows PC. Pokemon Uranium is a game developed by Pokemon fans who wanted to pay tribute to the epic cartoon franchise by building their own Pokemon game.

This game took 9 long years to complete and developers have now released the latest build which is Pokemon Uranium Version 1.0 on August 6, 2016. The Uranium Team is not affiliated with Game Freak or Nintendo in any manner and it is a not-for-profit project. The game is a full-length RPG which contains all 8 Gyms, the Championship, new main storyline and many post-game quests.

The game set up is in the Tandor Region, where every player has to collect 8 gym badges in order to qualify for the Tandor Regional Championship. The updated Tandor Dex has 200 Pokemons out of which players can catch 192 and 8 more will come in the future updates.

Key features of Pokemon Uranium are:
  • 13 Towns & Cities
  • 8 Gyms
  • 7 Optional Sidequests
  • Online Lobby
  • Player-vs-Player battles
  • Direct Trading
  • Mega Evolution after 7th Gym
  • Virtual Trainer Battle
  • Global Trade Station
  • Wonder Trade
  • Mystery Gift
  • Nuzlocke Mode which is a more difficult mode
  • Multiple Saves and external Patcher
You can download the 263Mb file for your Windows PC/Laptop and start gaming. We tried the official download link of the game but their website's server was down due to heavy traffic, but we managed to get 2 other links from where you can download the file.

Link1 is of Google Drive.

Link2 is of MEGA.

We successfully installed Pokemon Uranium on our PC so if you get stuck somewhere while installing the game, just drop a message in the comments section below. You can also check the official wikia page of Pokemon Uranium for help.
August 11, 2016 / / 0 comments /

PARIKSHA LITE: A Faster Way To Prepare Better For Placements Online

Pariksha Lite Logo
Pariksha Lite
Pariksha, an online placement preparation platform, has recently launched their new PWA aka Progressive Web App to provide on-the-go access to users on their mobile phones yet keeping the whole thing light on your data pack as well as on your phone memory.

You must be wondering what in the world is Progressive Web App now?
Well, the answer is pretty straight forward: Application-like user experience delivered on the Web. That’s it. PWAs don’t work like native apps which are hosted on Play Store or Apple Store. No need to install anything on your phones anymore. Just pull out the user experience & ease of use of mobile apps and put in your favorite browsers.

Now allow me to give a brief intro of what Pariksha does and what’s the hype all about?

Started in the dorm rooms of IIT Kanpur, Pariksha helps the students prepare better & faster for any exam with the help of technology. Through individual, government and academic subscriptions, members have access of top-quality preparation content from best instructors in the domain.

I managed to get in touch with Pariksha’s Associate Program Manager, Ms. Tanya Garg and bombarded her email with a questionnaire for the founders; and guess what I got all my answers. So here they are:

Q1. Why you started pariksha.co?

The dream is to have all the students in the country on our platform and making sure they are accurately evaluated in their selection exams. By this I mean, if you are attempting JEE or applying for a job in any company, your problem solving skills and proficiency should be the metric of judgement rather than the other proxies which could be the school or college where are you from, the city where you prepared or the experiences you have had in past. All these constraints should not stop someone from going into an IIT or IIM or getting a Job in Googles of the world. With the help of technology we want to make education more accessible, affordable and more engaging by personalising the whole preparation process.
Making sure your previous experiences don't count as a major factor when it comes to selection, is what we are trying to do.

Q2. In how many days you created the lite version of your website?

It took us 16 days to make the initial version of Pariksha lite once we decided to go forward with it. But deciding whether to go with PWA was a time taking affair.

Q3. Do you believe PWAs are the future?

When we thought of making a PWA for Pariksha, the major concern was whether we’ll be able to educate the users what exactly a PWA is. Considering the fact that user experience in mobile website has traditionally been very poor, users now don’t want to go for mobile web. But you can’t ignore the fact that mobile web lands more users than apps and that’s why you would have seen the return of mobile websites of Flipkart and Myntra. User Engagement was the key issue with mobile websites which PWA took care of. With Google pushing hard for its usage and development, we hope PWA will play a major role in acquiring users in developing markets like India.

Q4. What’s your take on Android Instant Apps which were showcased at Google’s I/O 2016 Developer Conference?

PWAs and Instant apps are both made to bridge the gap between a web browser and a native android app. While PWA is approaching towards browser end, Instant Apps is doing the same from Native Apps end. Until Google search is not replaced with Play store search as the primary search for most of the users, I believe, PWAs are the way to go.

Q5. If the need arises will you launch native apps for Android and iOS in future?

We are living in times where we witness change in technology on a daily basis. We are betting on PWA, but it is a calculated risk. Reaching out to users and educating them still remains the key challenge. With Facebook, Twitter and other key social media companies switching to their own internal browsers, push from Google won’t suffice. User adoption will be the key in deciding the future mobile plans for Pariksha. If the need be, we are open towards launching native mobile apps. 

I also did a full review of lite version of their website and made a video especially for my readers. If you want to watch how the lite version works and what Pariksha is having in store for you then do check out the review video which is right below.
July 23, 2016 / / 0 comments /

ABLE Charities: Their Eyes Will Thank You Campaign, Powered by Ketto

ABLE Charities
ABLE Charities

Association for Blindness and Leprosy Eradication (ABLE Charities) is calling each and everyone out there to lend your support for a very noble cause. Every individual can do his/her bit in allowing unprivileged and unfortunate people with Cataract lead a normal life. But before I disclose what you can do to make an Impact in the society, allow me to give a brief intro of the organisation, ABLE Charities. 

ABLE Charities is an internationally registered NGO operating in Faridabad and Palwal districts of Haryana, India. The team is dedicated to amending the education and health status of the impoverished in Indian society since 1993 with a 100-bed charitable hospital. Its mission is to improve the quality of life of rural-Indians with a specific focus on offering medical services, education, and vocational activities in an environment which is affordable and easily adaptable.

ABLE Youth which was created as an extension of ABLE Charities works at ground level to implement various campaigns. Its an initiative started and taken care of by the school students from most reputed schools of Faridabad. These students have pulled off various successful events in past which includes the famous Indian Ocean Rock Concert at Gymkhana Club, Faridabad.


Freeze Mob by ABLE Youth
Freeze Mob by ABLE Youth

Two years ago, distressed by the escalating number of blind in the region, ABLE Charities started from scratch and went on to obtain the most sophisticated machinery and highly qualified ophthalmic surgeons. In the first year they performed 400 successful operations and in 2015 they went further to perform 1200 successful operations.

Many of you might be knowing that Cataract can be surgically treated and it costs $25 or INR 1690 approx. for the procedure. You just need to support those who are really working hard on their mission of Cataract free India. 

So, with the aim of making it even better, ABLE Charities is back at it yet again with a new goal, to complete 2000 surgeries in the year 2016. What many would consider a nominal amount can change the life of a person who's struggling to see everyday. You can do your bit by backing ABLE's campaign at Ketto. 

For those who don't know, Ketto is an online crowdfunding platform for social causes founded by famous actor Kunal Kapoor and Varun Sheth. 

ABLE's goal is to raise Rs. 5 Lakhs via their campaign on the crowdfunding space, Ketto. At the time of writing this article, ABLE has already raised Rs. 54,426 with the help of 25 backers. They are still very far away from their destination but that too can be reached with your contribution. Just visit http://ket.to/beatcataract and contribute for a noble cause. All the required steps are explained on the campaign page and Ketto has made the contribution process very easy, hassle-free and secure as well.

These are the words which motivate team ABLE to dream and achieve big.
Being face to face with the sufferings of patients and their families makes us realize how necessary such actions are. They are the main catalyst to our motivation to try harder and achieve bigger goals than before and it overwhelms us to see how much of a difference, society’s actions, makes to their lives.
Team TechHoodoo has also made a video in support of this campaign. Please share it if you want others to know about such a great campaign and help ABLE in its mission.
June 02, 2016 / / 0 comments /

Flipkart Big Shopping Days are back with Huge Discounts

Fipkart.com
Source: Flipkart Twitter
E-commerce giant Flipkart is offering huge discounts across various categories of products under its Big Shopping Days campaign. This time, the discounts are available from May 25th until May 27th.
Fipkart Big Shopping Days

Many discounted products are available for lower than usual price under ' Deals of the Day' section on the Flipkart's website as well as app.

Many smartphones are available with flat discounts and exchange offers as well. For those who are looking to buy a new smartphone, this is the perfect time for them. It's literally raining discounts and offers on Flipkart. We searched and picked up a few deals which are currently offered on Motorola's devices, Apple Watch & are worth checking out.

 1) Moto X Force
Moto X Force
Moto X Force
Key Specs:
  • 3 GB RAM
  • 5.4 inch AMOLED Quad HD ShatterShield Display
  • Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor
  • 21 MP and 5 MP cameras
  • 3760 mAh battery
  • TurboPower charging
  • Water Resistant
As of now its available with flat discount + exchange offers as well.
Original Price (32 GB) : Rs. 49,999
Offered Price (32 GB) : Rs. 34,999

Original Price (64 GB) : Rs. 53,999
Offered Price (64 GB) : Rs. 37,999


2) Moto Turbo
Moto Turbo
Moto Turbo
Key Specs:
  • 3 GB RAM
  • 5.2 inch Quad HD Display
  • Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 processor clocked at 2.7 GHz 
  • 21 MP rear and 2 MP front cameras
  • 3900 mAh battery
  • 64 GB inbuilt storage
  • Turbo charging
Flipkart is offering a flat Rs. 10,000 discount on this device.

 Original Price (64 GB) : Rs. 31,999
Offered Price (64 GB) : Rs. 21,999

3) Moto G Turbo Edition 
Moto G Turbo Edition
Moto G Turbo Edition
Key Specs:
  • 2 GB RAM
  • TFT LCD 720p HD display with Corning® Gorilla™ Glass 3
  • 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 Octa-core chipset
  • 13 MP rear camera with dual-LED flash and 5 MP front shooter
  • 2470 mAh battery with quick charging
  • 16 GB inbuilt storage with expandable memory
  • Water resistant IP67 rating
Original Price (16 GB) : Rs. 14,499
Offered Price (16 GB) : Rs. 12,499

4) Moto X (2nd Generation)
Moto X (2nd Gen)
Moto X (2nd Gen)
Key Specs:
  • 2 GB RAM
  • 5.2 inch HD Display
  • 2.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 Quad-core processor
  • 13 MP primary camera with 2 MP secondary camera
  • 2300 mAh battery
  • Dual Ring LED Flash
This flagship Moto smartphone of 2015 got a huge price cut and is now available for half of its original price.

 Original Price (16 GB) : Rs. 31,999
Offered Price (16 GB) : Rs. 14,999 (Black Leather)
Offered Price (16 GB) : Rs. 12,999 (Black)


Original Price (32 GB) : Rs. 32,999
Offered Price (32 GB) : Rs. 17,999 (Black)
5) Apple Watch
Apple Watch
Apple Watch
42 mm Apple Watch in Gold Aluminium case with Sports Band (Midnight Blue) is available for Rs. 27,900 down from its original price of Rs. 34,900

 These products were offered at the discounted prices mentioned above at the time of writing this article. All these prices are liable to change without any announcement and depend on Flipkart's pricing mechanism. T&C apply!

 Read More: How to resize partitions in Linux/Ubuntu using Gparted | TechHoodoo | Mobile, Tech, Lifestyle, Startups, How-tos, Design and Auto Reviews
May 25, 2016 / / 0 comments /
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