Auranos.org set to become a virtual experience!

Auranos.org presents, its very own implementation of a virtual reality engine, written entirely in javascript, which is an odd language to carry out the complex tasks involved in rendering graphics and synthesising real world physics on.

If you are on a WebGL enabled browser, you can sample the engine for yourself right here:The Auranos.org Virutal Reality Engine.

Javascript being an interpreted language means that these kinds of operations would traditionally be outside the scope of what could be done but since browser manufacurers are providing direct links into the GPU hardware through the WebGL api, the rendering process becomes something of a hybrid between interpreted language constructs and direct manipulation of the GPU itself.

With the rendering pratically done in two shakes of a lambs tail, this leaves lots of procossor time per cycle to do the physics.

Physics Engines Vary

A chemist might want to get some idea of atoms bouncing off one another in a mathematical model and it has to be highly accurate if the model is to be of any scientific use. These types of physics engines replicate natural reality and it is the type of thing that someone studying aerodynamics might be interested in.

Consider ye though ... a person walking into a wall. A scientific model would cause the person to bounce off the wall but in the real world outside of what we Glaswegian's would call headbangers, a person is probably walking towards somewhere very close to the wall, perhaps with intent of sneaking along the wall so as to peak round the corner and see if there are any zombies, aliens, unfriendly robots, or beasts of the apocalypse round that corner (in the real world :) ). The type of physics used in games, differs a bit from the type of physics currently shown on the engine as it currently published at The Auranos.org Virutal Reality Engine.

There are several forks within forks to consider for the physics part of the engine and the current focus is somewhere between a modelling application and a first person shooter game. The physics for first person shooter are not quite set up as there is a development stall on the collision detection.

Although not ready for general release yet, the engine features several modes and sub-modes of operation which will be suitable for a variety of purposes from modelling and strategy games to role playing adventure epics and of course, the classic, "kill those zombies before they eat your brains".

Home of the Sky People

The demo at The Auranos.org Virutal Reality Engine is pre-alpha but should not be buggy as some effort has been made to make it more presentable than the development version which involves purple boxes bouncing off one another inside a highly abstract world of strangely shaped things which are useful for testing things to the limits.

Home of the Sky People was the best I could come up with in a short period of time and it is meant to show the engine in its early stage and does not suggest any kind of finished product.

If you read the billboards posted around the Home of the Sky People, you will get some idea about what the purpose of "the map" is. A demonstration map will be released to the same url at some point once the engine is more worthy of having a proper map made for it.

The engine in the demo is set to slow fly mode with a first person perspective but it is equally capable of walk mode in a third person, model view perspective or various combinations of these modes. There is no interaction functionality yet as the current development interaction functionality is very limited and not considered worthy of development yet, especially when the human models are ostensibly statues rather than something which animate in an idle pose.

Obviously, the engine is at an early stage but if you are thinking of investing and want to see the latest version of the engine before the next publication, if you can agree to keep the source code confidential, I will be happy to let you see the engine working in its various modes of operation to the full extent it has been so far developed.

The History of Internet Browsers

Once upon a time the humble web browser was an application available on a personal computer which allowed one to access a library of texts from what was then being called "the information super-highway". Video and music was available, if one could find it, but it took so long to download over 14.4 Kb per second connection that no one really bothered.

Web browsers have changed significantly since NCSE Mosaic was being challenged by AOL and Microsoft Internet Explorer, so much so that Netscape communicator was born.

All your online applications in one place. Your emails, your web browsing and even some technologies like news groups which have fallen into general disuse was all there on your one suite of applications for using the internet. Not much different from the suite of applications for doing office tasks or the suite of applications for when the boss didn't notice you had completed all your work for the day and you could try for a higher score on solitaire.

Web browsing was a particular aspect of computing rather than the reason so many people decided to get a computer. Web browsers have changed!

What were once applications for reading HTML documents from remote servers became applications that could even run some programs rather than just present text formatted to the servers specifications. Microsoft favoured ActiveX components but their proprietory nature meant that Sun Microsystems Java became the main platform for running Java Applets inside a web page. Microsoft and Sun had a bit of a spat over Java and Microsoft's not-particularly-standard implementation of Java and it resulted in the situation where Java just didnt ship with Windows (which was and may still be) the main operating system of the day. It took extra effort to install Java so no one would develop it since its perceived users are lazy and prefer not to install extra components just to get a website to work fully.

ActiveX being proprietory meant that very few developers would develop with it for anything outside of in-house applications on Microsoft centric back offices. People headed toward developing in flash which was very like Java, available on most browsers at the time and so ubiquitous that there would only be a very few users who would not already have Flash installed in their browser.

Meanwhile, browsers were using a standardised client side scripting language called javascript which was similar to C and Java and eventually developed into the full scale object oriented language that it is today. As HTML5 became the new standard, Javascript could now do things that were once only possible with the use of Flash, Java Applets or ActiveX components.

Now multimedia was available natively and the much sought after <video> tag was added. Features which would have to have formerly been perfomed at a very slow rate in an interpreted language like javascript using a <canvas> tag were now being made available by browser manufacturers which allowed the video hardware to be controlled directly.

With access to video hardware from a browser, more sophisticated use of virtual reality functionality became natively available to the once dismissed "website writer" who can now write full scale virtual reality applications for the web in the same way which was once only doable on compiled applications like the many first-person shooters and roleplay aventure games which have been out there since Wolfenstein 3D kick Duke Nukem up the butt!

The technology has been around to do virtual reality for the web for quite some time. Browser extensions which support the now obsolete VRML (virtual reality modelling language) have been around, but not since HTML5 or the later version of HTML4 was it possible to implement VR with the full scope of options available in the WebGL api. Just one of the ever expanding APIs which are available on *"most browsers". (*That is to say they are supported by the leading browsers used by 90% or the people online. This includes, at the current time, Mozilla Firefox (auranos.org's preference), Microsoft Edge, Apple Safari and to some extent the browser called Opera, which although always lagging behind the most recent developments, has for over a decade, managed to keep up.

As for epiphany, sensible, gnomeweb and the various forks of Gecko and Webkit that are out there, well, some of these API's may or may not work but for most users they do, and that makes these APIs worth developing on! That means more software, and as the days go by, more sophisticated software

... available on what used to be an application for reading HTML documents from the information super-highway.

Browsers have changed!

Did you download the file that was uploaded?

You may have come across accessory files called crc files which you can download along with the actual main file you are trying to get your hands on. These files contain numbers which are calculated along the length of the main file you are downloading and if you run a crc check on the main file once downloaded, the number your crc check will generate will be exactly the same number contained in the crc file.

CRC stands for "cyclical relay check" and its intent is to provide the downloader of a file with notice that the file contains erroneous parts which were not in the file which was provided on the download link. Most often it is provided on security critical software such as downloading a browser or an operating system with the intent that should a man-in-the-middle attempt to push a false version of the file to the person trying to pull it from the genuine source but only reaching the man-in-the-middle, then the CRC check will (hypothetically) ensure that the file received is the same file that was presented for download.

Credits to @gangstermailsexy on minds.com, an exploit has been pointed out which could allow the man-in-the-middle to send a file with the correct CRC value by simply manipulating some bytes at the end of the file in order to make the false file pass the CRC check that its intended only the true file can pass.

@gangstermailsexy points out the following:

Full Array of Services

If you are living in Cumbernauld, Auranos.org is the most advanced technical service provider catering to a full range of computing services anyone could need.

Call us on 0703 064488 whether you are needing to upgrade of buy a new computer. Our prices cannot be beaten by regular retailers. We can also advice you on various economies with regard to both software and hardware, whether its the difference between using a slightly slower memory at a significantly lower cost or whether its how to replace those subscription fees to Microsoft by using fully compatible software which does not attract a subscription feee. If you are looking to make your computing as low cost as possible, Auranos.org is the ideal tech support site for people in Cumbernauld.

We also offer a range of bespoke services including setting up and maintaining your website where not only can we provide a variety of pre-written webware solutions such as wordpress or your own tailor made flavour of E-Commerce platorm or Wikipedia like system, Auranos.org can also provide you with webware which has been created inhouse which can be tailored to your needs with a beautiful design.

If you have something more sophisticated in mind, like connections to the internet which will not fail when in remote locations and you cannot get a signal on your mobile phone, we have plans which will fit your need. We can provide banks of cryptochips if you plan on mining and we have our own proprietory encryption mechanisms should you feel the "unbreakable by a desktop computer" part of public key encryption is not quite up to par with your organisations privacy requirements.

We will fix your mobile phones, we will fix your tablets, we will fix your laptops, your all-in-ones, your desktop computers and anything that needs fixing on your server rack.

Auranos.org is a computer service provider and there is nothing with regard to computing that we will not cater to. Get in touch today.

Freedom Phone Service

Auranos.org specialises in all kinds of computer technology, not the least of which is the ubiquitous Mobile Phone.

Both Google Android and Apple iPhone's have shared a monopoly on mobile phones since everything went smart but when these devices became prisoner ankle tags for swathes of the population put under unexpected house arrest and the various malware detection software houses didn't seem to notice, Auranos.org has been working on solutions which will ensure continuance of free speech, anonymity and much valued privacy from corporate spyware for whoever Santa delivers a phone to this Christmas.

We have previously offered and continue to offer a degoogling service Android phones, but we recognise the vulnerabilities implicit in using a Google operating system at all are such that if at all possible it is better to replace it with something that has no potential for further backdoors which could allow Google to install spyware onto the devices of their end users.

Our Freedom Phone Service does more. Our Freedom Phone Service does away with Google altogether by replacing the entire Android Operating System on select phones with a choice of operating systems although we highly recommend the use of Ubuntu Touch.

Unfortunately we cannot provide a Freedom Phone Service to those with Apple iPhones at this juncture but once the legal avenues regarding Apple proprietory warez have been negotiated, we may be able to offer this at some point in the future.

The Auranos.org Freedom Phone Service recommends the use of Ubuntu Touch as the best Mobile Phone Operating System available today. It has a larger support base than either of the duopoly of Android and iPhone, is more efficient, has a large software collection which includes not only APK's which can be run in an android emulator if desired, but also .exe files in a Windows emulator and a whole variety of emulators which will support anything from the Sony Playstation to the Sinclair Spectrum with the only question being, is your phone soupy enough to run the latest version of Grand Theft Auto V (probably not) and would it be any good on a touch screen phone? At least you'll get offline Excel to work okay but since you are using Linux, alot of the software that costs a bomb on Windows is a fairly well replicated native to Linux with no need for the Snazi Windows Emulator to run the various programs you might want to run if only you were at your desk.

So ... thats just "the other software" that will run on your much better Phone Operating System and there's little need to touch on the touchscreen apps which most seasoned Linux users would not be used to since they like their keyboards so much. As an added bonus, your internet connected, video playing, calculating, SNES emulating, personal stereo device can also be used to make phone calls and send text messages to people.

There are other versions of proper Linux mobile device OS's we can install for you but with the exception of Debian Mobile, not all of these operating system are as quite touchscreen capable as we would like them to be. It doesnt mean you cant have us install Kali Linux for example which is probably the most security conscieous operating system available for a phone but that currently comes at a cost of having to open something called a bash terminal to type in passwords at every oppotunity and although it will work on any of the listed phones below, its maybe not the ideal OS for ordinary consumer use.

Now the biggest advantage of the Freedom Phone Service is that Google cant track you unless you deliberately install Google software and allow it to alter your device settings. It can't install any software on the fly through whatever backdoors Google has hidden in it's now self-compromised Android Operating System. Most of the software on your new system is open source from communities which are well established with a pedigree in the kind of information security that large profit making corporations tend to ensure for themselves but attempt to restrict for their consumers. Some Google software is open source but no one who considers end user information security and important feature bothers to look at it since by the very definition it is Google software, there is the implication that end user information is something to be harvested rather than genuinely meriting coroporate statements like "we care about your privacy". If they cared so much they wouldnt collect anything without you specifically allowing it. By default, they collected everytime you went to Pizzahut which garages you visited and they gave you some free offers while admitting they were doing it. While some people seem to think this is a wonderful thing, there are those of us who feel like this cyberstalking on an industrial scale.

Auranos.org can help you thwart these criminal activities even when the police don't want to notice.

Why Doesn't Everyone Have a Freedom Phone?

Well Google and Apple have cornered the market for phones and they give away a free operating system with their phone. Until now there wasn't much need for a more secure operating system because you would have though that the Operating System manufacturers would be the last people to install spyware on their customers' phones. The fact that Android tends to hide its Linux core from the world and the way the word Linux conveys a sense of dread since the days when 1995 Red Hat 4.0 would take half and hour to install and half a year to find all the drivers makes people unneccessarily wary of modern Linux which is today much more competent than Windows which would have been the preferred choice for me around the time of Windows XP.

In the US, Freedom Phones are being sold in US retail markets and it looks likely that many European's will begin to follow suit. Unlike the retailers in the US, Auranos.org do not sell the phones with the OS installed at present time per se but speak to us and we can come up with some deal which may involve a deposit. What we offer to our regular customers is the installation of a new operating system on a phone that our customers bring to us. In time we hope to upscale this to provide new phones pre-installed with Ubuntu Touch but it depends very much on how likely we are to sell the service itself and we are hoping our customers can help spark a demand, so give us a call on 07903 064488 and discuss upgrading your operating system to something which is compatible with these strange times we now live in in the 2020s.

Is My Phone Supported?

Unfortunately we cannot provide any assistance to iPhone users with the Freedom Phone Service. We can still fix your screens and replace your batteries as always but the Freedom Phone Service is only available for users with Android Phones and I'm afraid to say not all Android devices have been tested to be working as yet.

Phones degoogled from £15

If you are concerned about your online and physical privacy breached by the use of an undocumented backdoor in 2020 that google held on their mobile Linux operating system Android, Auranos.org is here to help you.

While many anti-virus have failed to give warning or provide any protection from Google's spyware, a large number of techs attempting to warn the public about the dangers and illegality of the shockingly revealled Android "feature" have been silenced across many large tech corporations heavily controlled by the Blackrock and Vanguard multinational investment foundations.

Linux is an operating system kernel which ships with a fairly liberal license allowing anyone to modify and distrubute the software and even profit from doing so, without paying a penny in royalties to Linus Torvalds or the others who play a role in maintaining the kernels. The one stipulation is that any system based on the Linux cannot prevent end-users (the actual people who walk about with the phones in their daily lives) from altering the system as they see fit.

However, in the move in summer of 2020, Google, without the end-user's knowledge or consent, installed software on every Android which wholly meets with the description "spyware" and this software is not as simple to remove as uninstalling and app from the phone.

Many have expressed concerns about the invasion of their privacy this ability to install spyware without the end-users knowledge or consent presents but they outvoiced by loud and very well funded Google sponsored agents who also engage in deranking anything that suggests that there is something wrong, or how to go about undoing the alterations which have turned peoples communications devices into social monitoring devices by those who clearly have something to hide. The new software is closed source as is the means by which the backdoor functions.

Auranos.org recommends that smartphone users check out GNU Linux operating systems for mobile devices such as Ubuntu Touch and purchase a phone which is known to be compatible with these operating systems in order to maximise protection from exploitation from these corporations which are now trampling over humanities most basic liberties.

However at Auranos.org, most of our customers cant just afford a new phone to keep up with the level of creepyness of mega corporations and we cater to every need.

If buying a new phone is out of your reach, there is the middle ground of having your Android phone degoogled. Android is based on Linux but many of the additional bits, including the user-password system have been specifically designed by Google and its not entirely possible to get rid of Google entirely from Android, other than installing a completely different operating system that Google have had no input into. Not all Android devices are supported by the various GNU Linux distributions which are available so if you have a phone that is not known to support GNU then we can replace as much as Google software as possible on your phone.

A degoogled android will still support APK applications like a regular Android but it will not support tracking APIs, it will not support Googles Play Store but most of the applications you use which are not Google can be installed and made to work on your degoogled Android device.

By using alternative software on systems which have been especially installed with privacy in mind, we can effectively reduce your visibility to the Google AI system, restricting them from tracking your location, knowing your medical details or looking at your search history and the various other invasions of privacy detailed on the various documents annexed to the Android license which users agree to in whole by clicking a single button.

For £15, you can be rid of gmail, playstore, gpay, videos and a whole load of other apps spying on your every activity, including your location and have them replaced with similar applications providing much more protection than is available by just trusting a mega-corporation like Google to not exploit you.

Get in contact with us to discuss your software needs.

Auranos.org is a specialist in "Computers". As the IT industry has increased in size and complexity, it has become increasingly difficult to categorise what it is we actually do in regards to computers. The actual answer is "Almost Anything". An exhaustive list would include such things as microprocessor design to time quotas on communication satelites, however these are not the most common services which Auranos.org provides on an everyday basis, so the following list has been compiled to give you information on the services you are most likely interested in.

At our Cumbernauld base we repair computers, laptops, phones, tablets, printers and generally any device that is somehow related to computer use. We also build computers to custom specifications here so whether you are after a budget PC ready for the next generation of the Windows Operating System or something specifically tailored to your own particular needs, get in touch with us and we will come up with a design at a price you can afford.

Whether you just need the screen replaced on your iPhone or you need to equipment and a usage quota on a communication satellite, take advantage of the skills and experience of Stephen Duffy who will be happy to assist you with all your enquiries. No job is too small and no requirement is too complex.

Auranos.org is there for all your computing needs whether you are power user seeking to have the latest technology or someone happy to put up with a scratch or dent on a refurbished machine if it comes to you at a price worth paying for the quality of a pre-owned machine which comes with a full years warranty, contact Stephen in the first instance and see what solutions he has available for your budget.

Telephone: 07903 064488

or

E-Mail: sduffy@auranos.org

Malware removal, repair of physically damaged hardware, machine upgrades, point of sale systems, tailor made websites, IT support, remote assistance, home visits, computer components available for sale on an out of hours basis, refurbished machines, data recovery, online consultations, domain name registration and secure web hosting, secure private email addresses, PCB fabrication, software development, website installations, operating system upgrades, Linux support, phone network unlocking, screen replacements and almost anything! Auranos can fix it!

All our work and the parts we use, including new and refurbished computers, come with a full one year's warranty so you can rest, assured that you've made the right choice when purchasing from us or commissioning our services.

We are a VAT registered limited company offering our services homes and local businesses in the Cumbernauld area, most especially Carbrain, Kildrum, Greenfaulds, Lenziemill and Blairlinn. Auranos.org is a trading name of Gartbeth Digital Services Ltd (SC710279) and we are proud to be a Nuremberg Code compliant employer. Our head office is at 173D Greenrigg Road, South Carbrain, Cumbernauld G67 2QD and we can be contacted through Stephen's email address or by phoning us on 07903 064488. Our VAT Registration registration number is (GB) 392 6548 59.