Techies 24: FOr all asians and africans.. Wireless hotspots.. yeah.. Praise the lord

Asus VivoMouse announced

If you are mad about gadgets, then surely shows such as CeBIT, the grand daddy of them all, CES, or even a more oriental slant like Computex would capture your attention, as you lap up the different kinds of news as well as press releases that different companies come up with. Asus is one such company, using the opportunity of launching yet another computer peripheral in their own backyard in the form of the Asus VivoMouse. Just when you thought that a mouse is a mouse, is a mouse, Asus comes along to try and prove everyone wrong. Now the Asus VivoMouse is not any kind of gaming device, but rather, it will be oriented more towards the office and serious crowd.

Just what kind of goodies does the Asus VivoMouse come with? For starters, it is highly versatile, since it can double up as a standalone touchpad and wireless remote. In a nutshell, you can go around to claim that the Asus VivoMouse is the first wireless mouse with an integrated multi-touch touchpad in the world, delivering not only full desktop but handheld control as well.

Certainly the lines of normal hardware categories are being redrawn all the time with each successive generation of peripherals that enter the market. Take the smartphone for instance – this category of gadgets have moved on from carrying a QWERTY keyboard to being a full touchscreen device, and now we have the screen size getting larger and larger until they start to encroach on tablet territory. I guess you can more or less say that the same is happening with the Asus VivoMouse, where it combines mouse, touchpad, and wireless remote into a single device.

It is said to be an entirely new kind of pointing device, courtesy of its innovative combination of traditional desktop input and a wireless handheld remote for a more casual PC control. When you want to use the VivoMouse as a standard optical mouse, it will fit comfortably in the hand, although its top surface would also boast of a large circular...

Google to deploy wireless hotspot blimps in Africa and Asia

Google's long-term goal of collecting and contextualizing the all world's data is moving along nicely, but some regions are still not wired up enough to facilitate reliable Internet access, thus giving the search giant massive blind spots around the globe. To address this glitch, the company is apparently working on deploying a fleet of blimps that would deliver wireless access.

According to a report in the Wall Street Journal (citing a source familiar with the company's plans), the initiative is targeted toward parts of Africa and Southeast Asia. In addition to connecting users located in rural areas, the initiative would also be used to boost the connection speeds of those located in major city centers. The plan involves rolling out a combination of blimps that would act as wireless nodes, as well as structuring deals with local governments to use the airwaves reserved for local television broadcasts. Google reportedly believes that these techniques could connect up to a billion more people to the Internet.

In recent years, Google has quietly been working on raising its institutional IQ with regards to providing Internet access to the public. Currently, Google provides free Wi-Fi access to all of Mountain View, California, where its headquarters are located, and has recently introduced a new high-speed network called Google Fiber to cities in states including Kansas, Texas, Missouri, and Utah.

While these test projects don't guarantee that the company will have the ability to successfully negotiate connecting a billion new users in underserved areas of Asia and Africa, the project will almost certainly serve as the perfect testing ground for Google to experiment with new ways to deploy its access model back in the U.S.

Movies 1: Next week's Upcomming

1. Much Ado About Nothing- A modern retelling of Shakespeare's classic comedy about two pairs of lovers with different takes on romance and a way with words.From the trailer it looks like a mixture of romance, comedy bit thriller.. but all the way it is a real entertainment brought by Joss williams.. Shakespere was never seen like this before.. I mean.. yeah.. he must be kinda impressed with himself after watching this trailer.. IMBD ratings for this movie is at 105% and i will rate it 5/10..

 

 

2. The Internship- Two salesmen whose careers have been torpedoed by the digital age find their way into a coveted internship at Google, where they must compete with a group of young, tech-savvy geniuses for a shot at employment. 

 

 

 

  3. The Purge- A family is held hostage for harboring the target of a murderous syndicate during the Purge, a 12-hour period in which any and all crime is legalized. Well, this future set sci- fi movie is a complete thriller package.. My Rating 7/10.. Really waiting for this movie.

 

 

 

 

4. Syrup -A slacker hatches a million-dollar idea. But, in order to see it through, he has to learn to trust his attractive corporate counterpart. Based on Max Barry's novel.My Rating... 6.5/10.. Light Comedy.. Will be a great time pass..

Techies 23: Astronomy Donomy

Big asteroid swinging by Earth today has its own moon

Astronomers getting their first close-up glimpse of a giant asteroid about to whiz by Earth found a surprise bonus rock. A smaller moon asteroid is circling the larger space rock, an unusual but not unheard of space phenomenon.

The larger 1.7 mile-wide rock named Asteroid 1998 QE2 will be the closest to Earth on Friday at 4.59 pm EDT. Don't worry, though. It will still be 3.6 million miles away. NASA scientist Paul Chodas said it's one of the larger asteroids to swing by Earth and is the size of the space rock that wiped out the dinosaurs.

The smaller rock was discovered Wednesday night by astronomers using radar to look at QE2. The moon asteroid is about 2,000 feet wide. That's about average for such near-Earth objects

The MoonRider is a Hybrid Futuristic Two Wheeler

Designed by Marko Design, The MoonRider is a futuristic hybrid two wheeler which can be driven as a bike, but also acts as a flying machine.

The lightweight motorcycle is an electric-powered bike with zero emission as well a plasma jet engine to provide power in flying mode. The MoonRider is made of lightweight composite materials which allows the bike to fly efficiently.

The MoonRider features two front tandem wheels that consist of electric motors powered by electric batteries. The batteries are charged up by solar panels placed in the front of the two wheeler. Talk about the future!

A Violent Birth Illustration courtesy Caltech/NASA

With the world abuzz this week about Earth's close encounter with a giant asteroid, NASA scientists announced on May 30 the discovery of an entire new family of these celestial rocks hiding out in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

This artist's impression depicts the violent birth of one of these new-found families. A violent smashup creates fragments that fly apart, forming loose groups that orbit the sun as new asteroid families.

NASA researchers were able to identify 28 separate groups of asteroids by scanning millions of infrared snapshots from the asteroid-hunting portion of the WISE (Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer) all-sky survey.

The next step will be for researchers to identify the parent objects that created these hundreds of newly discovered asteroids.

—Andrew Fazekas
Published May 31, 2013

Archies 2:Celebrating luxury – Shanghai Wuzhou International Plaza by SDA + Shenzhen Architectural Design Institute

Celebrating luxury – Shanghai Wuzhou International Plaza by SDA + Shenzhen Architectural Design Institute

 

“Urban Canyon” is recently awarded entry for colossal, 180,000 square meters mixed-use complex in Shanghai, China. Expressive and dynamic design for Shanghai Wuzhou International Plaza is a result of successful collaboration between Synthesis Design + Architecture and Shenzhen General Architectural Design Institute. The very form of the complex was inspired by traditional Chinese concept of Yin and Yang – massive development is broken in two pieces, allowing circulation flow between. Both volumes are organized as a collection of two 30 story towers and series of detached retail units. Northern block houses 4 story luxury retail shopping center and a 5 star hotel tower, while southern part facilitates two office towers and lifestyle and entertainment complex. This urban sculpture is new landmark for the city and iconic celebration of luxury, wealth and good life.

Vibrant nature of this unique entity reflects vivid urban metropolis of Shanghai. However, the development is thoughtfully designed – guided by user’s comfort, architects provided series of framed views within the site along with series of green areas, in order to soften the urban condition and ensure natural shading.

Pattern of the cladding merges façade with the roof and podium of the complex with the tower, therefore mimicking the river that has carved the “canyon”. Standing-seam titanium zinc panels are to be used for façade, while the roof is covered with double standing-seam titanium zinc panels. Constant maintenance of the building is avoided due to material’s patina – layer of zinc carbonate, which regenerates itself and is resistant to corrosion.

Archi Blog 1: Device to Root out Evil

Artist: Dennis Oppenheim

Location: Vancouver\ Calgary (Canada)

First installed in Vancouver, BC, Canada and later relocated to a park in Calgary, Alberta, the 25-ft tall, aluminum framed, red glass shingled “Device to Root Out Evil” was designed by American sculptor Dennis Oppenheim, who says that “Turning the church upside down makes it more aggressive, but not blasphemous.” Though commissioned by the President’s Panel on Art, the president of Stanford University rejected the sculpture because it was “not appropriate” for the campus. Oppenheim says that "That piece, initially called Church, was proposed to the Public Art Fund in the city of New York to be built last year on Church Street, where I live. The director thought it was too controversial, and felt it would stimulate a lot of negative reaction from the Church and the religious population. I then changed the title to "Device to Root out Evil", to sidestep unwanted focus on ambient content. It's a very simple gesture that's made here, simply turning something upside-down. One is always looking for a basic gesture in sculpture, economy of gesture: it is the simplest, most direct means to a work. Turning something upside-down elicits a reversal of content and pointing a steeple into the ground directs it to hell as opposed to heaven."

Galvanized structural steel, anodized perforated aluminum, transparent red Venetian glass, and concrete foundations, 22 x 18 x 9 ft, the large scale sculpture was first exhibited at the 1997 Venice Biennale, in the form of an upside down church, with its steeple buried in the ground the work is a clear remark on religion. The sculpture was later moved to a public park in Vancouver, Canada as part of the Vancouver Sculpture Biennale in 2005. Unsurprisingly, the public had mixed a mixed reaction to the work and the Vancouver public parks committee voted to remove the sculpture. The Glenbow Museum in Calgary, Canada jumped at the opportunity to display the sculpture, which will arrive in a week or so. The piece was previously rejected by Stanford University in 2004. The Glenbow Museum placed the sculpture in Ramsay, Calgary’s most creative neighbourhood where it has been enjoyed, engaged and celebrated ever since.

Techies 22: Mars inhabited.. :O

Is Mars Infested With Pareidolia Rats?

It has finally happened. Not content with (potentially) infecting the pristine Martian surface with our germs, it appears that we’ve sent a rat (yes, a whole rat) to the Red Planet. And this isn’t some far-fetched hypothesis, there’s photographic evidence!

NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity snapped this panorama (above) of the “Rocknest” site with its MastCam camera on sol 52 (Sept. 28, 2012) of the mission. Now, with a keen eye and fertile imagination, a UFO enthusiast realized there was a camouflaged rodent hiding in the rocks. Needless to say, there’s no other evidence supporting this claim, it’s just something that looks like a rodent.

But as you may have guessed, after exercising an ounce of logical thought, what was once a cute furry four-legged creature suddenly becomes… wait for it… this is a good one… a rock. And there you have it ladies and gentlemen: We’ve found a rock on Mars… that looks like a rat.

Swift satellite produces best ultraviolet maps of the nearest galaxies

Nearly a million ultraviolet sources appear in this mosaic of the Large Magellanic Cloud, which was assembled from 2,200 images taken by Swift's Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope. The 160-megapixel image required a cumulative exposure of 5.4 days. The image includes light from 1,600 to 3,300 angstroms -- UV wavelengths largely blocked by Earth's atmosphere -- and has an angular resolution of 2.5 arcseconds at full size. The LMC is about 14,000 light-years across. Slide your cursor over the image to compare the galaxy's appearance in optical light with this ultraviolet portrait. Credit: UV image credit: NASA/Swift/S. Immler (Goddard) and M. Siegel (Penn State) Visible image credit: Axel Mellinger, Central Michigan Univ.

Techies 21: Algorithm Developed for Controlling Computer Cursors with the Thoughts( By Shrey Kumar)

Researchers from Stanford who were led by the scientists of Indian origin, in the third week of November 2012 claimed the development of fastest as well as most reliable mathematical algorithm which can help the disabled trick the computer cursors with the thoughts.
The speed, accuracy as well as natural movements of the algorithm are those like the real arm. Researchers have developed the system for ReFIT, the algorithm for the brain-implantable prosthetic systems. This can help in greatly improving the accuracy as well as speed of the neural prosthetics which can control cursors of the computers.
The findings will help in improving the prosthetic system performance as well as robustness in the paralysed. The system works by relying on the sensor which is actually implanted in the brain. This sensor is responsible for recording the action potentials in the neural activity from the range of electrode sensors. It then sends the data to the computer.

Techies 21: Multiverse Theory Evidence found..

Is our universe merely one of billions? Evidence of the existence of 'multiverse' revealed for the first time by cosmic map

Scientists studied radiation data gathered by Planck telescope

Claim anomalies show gravitational pull from other universes

Could be the first real evidence to support controversial theory

The first 'hard evidence' that other universes exist has been found by scientists.
Cosmologists studying a map of the universe from data gathered by the Planck spacecraft have concluded that it shows anomalies that can only have been caused by the gravitational pull of other universes.
The map shows radiation from the Big Bang 13.8billion years ago that is still detectable in the universe - known as cosmic microwave radiation.

Scientists had predicted that it should be evenly distributed, but the map shows a stronger concentration in the south half of the sky and a 'cold spot' that cannot be explained by current understanding of physics.
Laura Mersini-Houghton, theoretical physicist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Richard Holman, professor at Carnegie Mellon University, predicted that anomalies in radiation existed and were caused by the pull from other universes in 2005.

Now that she has studied the Planck data, Dr Mersini-Houghton believes her hypothesis has been proven.
Her findings imply there could be an infinite number of universes outside of our own.
She said: 'These anomalies were caused by other universes pulling on our universe as it formed during the Big Bang.
'They are the first hard evidence for the existence of other universes that we have seen.'

Detailed: Planck data has been used to create a map of light from when the universe was just 380,000 years old

Better quality: Previous maps of radiation (left) were not as detailed as the recent Planck map (right)

Although some scientists remain sceptical about the theory of other universes, these findings may be a step towards changing views on physics.
The European Space Agency, which runs the £515million Planck telescope, said: 'Because precision of Planck’s map is so high, it made it possible to reveal some peculiar unexplained features that may well require new physics to be understood.'
Cambridge professor of theoretical physics Malcolm Perry told the Sunday Times that the findings could be real evidence of the existence of other universes.
While George Efstathiou, professor of astrophysics at the university, told the newspaper: 'Such ideas may sound wacky now, just like the Big Bang theory did three generations ago. But then we got evidence and now it has changed the whole way we think about the universe.'

Techies 20: Making Your Life Easy

Optical camouflage tech removes backseat of a car, transparent interior the goal

A system that makes the backseat of a car look transparent is currently being developed by a research group at Keio University.
The system applies optical camouflage technology, using recursive reflection, to vehicles. The technology was developed by Professor Masahiko Inami. This system has been optimized to make the backseat look transparent from the driver's viewpoint.

"The main feature of our system is, it makes things look as if you can really see through them, rather than giving an indirect view of what's behind. For example, with a system that shows things on a monitor, you can understand your car's position and where any obstacles are. But the point about our system is, it gives a sense of depth, by making things appear where they actually should be when you look back."

In this system, video from the rear cameras is projected onto the backseat using a half-mirror. The video is processed by a computer to make things appear actual-sized, making the driver feel as if the back seat really is transparent.

"The screen is made of a special material called a recursive reflector. Optically, it has an interesting characteristic because it reflects light back in the direction of incidence. When we thought of applying it to automobiles, the advantage was, it gives a clear image in daylight, rather than in a dark place like this."

Currently, only the backseat has been made transparent, but ultimately, the aim is to make the car's interior completely transparent through 360 degrees, with no blind spots.

"Currently, the system shows one point clearly. But from now on, we'd like to keep increasing the number of viewpoints. We plan to enable the system to be easily used by anyone."

"We're discussing the possibility of collaboration with automakers. There are lots of issues in this research, so we'd like to collaborate with a variety of businesses. Regarding a commercial version, we hope we'll be able to offer one in about five years."

Techies 19: Smartphones, smartcars now smart highways.. cool

Smart Highway are interactive and sustainable roads of today. Designer Daan Roosegaarde and Heijmans Infrastructure are developing new designs and technologies for this Route 66 of the future.

New designs include the ‘Glow-in-the-Dark Road’, ‘Dynamic Paint’, ‘Interactive Light’, ‘Induction Priority Lane’ and ‘Wind Light’. The goal is to make roads which are more sustainable and interactive by using light, energy and road signs that automatically adapt to the traffic situation.

Awarded with a Best Future Concept by the Dutch Design Awards 2012 the first meters Smart Highway will be realized second half of 2013 in the Netherlands.

The collaboration between Roosegaarde and Heijmans is a true example of innovative industries. The design and interactivity from Studio Roosegaarde and the craftsmanship of Heijmans are fused into one common goal: innovation of the Dutch landscape.

Specifications:
2012-2015. Smart paints, energy harvesting, sensors and other media. Concept and Design at Studio Roosegaarde with the engineers from Heijmans.