LG's Optimus 2X: World first and fastest dual-core Android smartphone

This past week electronics giant LG unveiled the 'Optimus 2X' the world's first smartphone  with a dual core processor. With the launch of this phone LG wants to take the smart phone industry to the next level by utilizing newer and more energy efficient dual core processor family of chips.The processor used in the phone is the latest 1Ghz Dual-core NVIDIA Tegra 2. 

YouTube features you probably don't know about

Its quite an obvious fact that more and more people are using the Internet for entertainment and not just for work. People are spending more time with their computers than T.V.

YouTube is the holy grail for online video sharing. It is what brought the Internet closer to T.V. YouTube gets over 2 Billion views everyday.

But still lot of people are unaware of two good YouTube features.

• The Lean back Feature
• Shows
• YouTube Movies!

Athlete Robots Coming Closer To Reality?

Japanese have always been a step ahead when it come to robotics. A Japanese researcher named Ryuma Niiyama developed this robot as a PhD candidate at the Department of Mechano-Informatics of the University of Tokyo with colleagues Satoshi Nishikawa and Yasuo Kuniyoshi are in an effort to build an Athlete Robot that could sprint just like a Human Sprinter. Although there are robots out there like Asimo and other Biped robots that could walk like humans but they are quite Mechanical in nature and use motors attached to reduction gearbox. The Athlete Robot on the other hand has significant similarities to its human counterpart.

New Facebook profile page and how to get it.

Facebook introduces the new format of profile page. The new profile page on Facebook is designed to show details about you in a better and easily understandable way. It gives details about what you have in common with a specific person or friend on Facebook.

What it means is facebook just got better.

Upgrade to the new profile page by clicking the link below.

Dell hybrid tablet Duo to hit the market soon.

Almost two months ago in September at the Intel Developer Forum, Dell unveiled to the world the amazing and powerful hybrid tablet device called The Dell Inspiron Duo. This Hybrid Tablet can turn into a net-book and back into a tablet with a mechanical flip of the screen. Dell has been coming up with its hybrid devices very often now considering their last offering was the Dell Streak which became fairly popular.

The Dell Inspiron Duo is a fairly great device considering the fact that the all the new tablets available in the market only feature touch screen and a lot of business crowd is still not comfortable with touch alone. The keyboard is great for typing and business productivity.

Logitech’s Latest Innovation: Wireless Keyboard Powered by Solar Panel

Logitech the popular computer accessories manufacturer launched it's new light powered keyboard The 'Logitech Wireless Solar Keyboard K750'. The KeyBoard is quite innovative considering that light is very much available everywhere where people work on keyboards, this keyboard has an array of solar panels on the top part which harness the light energy falling on them to make it work.

WiFi Direct To kill Bluetooth?

With the increasing usage of digital media content like photos, videos and music, file transfer across devices has almost become a part of our daily lives. Now in current times if you want to have a file transferred across a device wirelessly  the choice  you have is Bluetooth, WiFi and in some cases 3G. The easiest way is through bluetooth, Just search the device and send the file but its quite slow. Wi-Fi is a lot faster but you need to add the device to your Wi-Fi network first, so it becomes quite cumbersome if you have a new device like your friends cell phone or something and if you don't have a Wi-Fi router you cannot do a file transfer.

Firesheep lets anyone hack into your social network accounts on public networks

After the Toorcon 12 hacker conference in San Diego on Sunday, public and Open WiFi networks cannot be trusted for security any more. Eric Butler, a freelance web application and software developer from Seattle, WA revealed to the world a free Firefox Plug-in called "Firesheep".

This plugin take advantage of the a security issue which is very prevalent across an array websites which include Facebook and Twitter. When logging into a website you usually start by submitting your username and password. The remote server then verifies the information to see if an account matching with the provided information exists and if so, replies back to device with a "cookie" which is used by your browser for all subsequent requests or information transfer.

Good Bye Dish Anntena: Flat Antennas As Satellite TV Signal Receivers

With the advent of the Satellite TV age our eyes have got accustomed to seeing satellite dishes on roof tops, near windows in apartment buildings and even those compact dishes on some cars and camper vans. These are actually a kind of nuisance to the surrounding considering the fact that they spoil the beauty of a structure and not to mention the amount of dirt they collect over time and people don't even bother to clean them.

But with a new technology developed by a recent PhD graduate from The Netherlands University of Twente it is days over for the dish antenna. Marcel Van de Burgwal has designed a microchip that allows for a grid array of almost flat antennas to receive satellite signals. With the inspiration from the LOFAR project which uses an array of antennas located across the northeast Dutch countryside linked together to form a virtual radiotelescopy dish.

India (DRDO) to Develop its Own Operating System for Security

The recent virus attacks that took place in Iran by a virus called Stuxnet which can enter crucial installations like nuclear plants and other installations has posed a great threat to countries and systems all across the world. It takes advantage from a security hole in the Windows operating System. Stuxnet is capability to reprogram the programmable logic controllers (PLCs) and hide the changes.This poses a grave threat to government and military installations. So it has become very important to create a secure operating system environment for such kind of installations.

Facebook adds new security features

Facebook has become a part of life for a majority of its users. We share so much of our personal information on it that we cannot afford to let our account fall prey to hackers and identity thieves. So I would first suggest you to make passwords stronger by using a combination of letters (captial and small) numbers and if possible symbols and please make sure you passwords is at least 8 characters in length.

Its best to create a new Email ID for facebook or use and Email which no one or very few people are aware of,cause your account can only be intruded if the intruder knows your login email in the first place.

Casio's new PRIZM (fx-CG10) graphing calculator

The world is moving forward very fast with technology we find big manufacturers and companies releasing new ground breaking products now and then.

Almost every tech professional in this world might have used a Casio scientific calculator at some point in his life and yes calculation have their limitations but that's about to change. This past week Casio unveiled a new calculator the "PRIZM (fx-CG10)" the worlds first calculator to feature Picture Plot function that enables users to plot graphs over curves and other familiar shapes in real life, such as the parabola of jets from a water fountain etc.

Recon-Zeal Transcend goggles with GPS and head-mounted display

Winter is coming and its time for some wild winter sports when the first snow hits the mountains. But wait if you're a winter sports fanatic have you heard about the new Recon-Zeal Transcend goggles?

Yes! display technology innovator Recon Instruments and sports lens developer Zeal Optics came together to create the worlds first and only goggles which feature GPS and a head mounted display.

These goggles provide its user with real time display/feedback of speed, latitude/longitude, altitude, vertical distance travelled, total distance traveled, chrono/stopwatch mode, a run counter, temperature and time and add all that with GPS capabilities USB charging, Data transfer with a user friendly interface.

Low cost Webcams to monitor vital signs

Technology has always been bringing about improvements in our way of life and our heath care systems. In the future the most important tool for a doctor the stethoscope will just turn redundant.   How??
A  team at MIT media labs has come up with a very interesting system to monitor and check vital signs of a person/patient without the need of any physical contact or sensors. 

How it works?

The system works by simply putting a person in-front of a low cost camera like a webcam and gives exact and accurate information about pulse rate of the person.The system works through a complex video imaging system called  "Non-contact, automated cardiac pulse measurements using video imaging and blind source separation". Developed by Ming-Zher Poh, Daniel J. McDuff, and Rosalind W. Picard. 

Facebook Redesign likely!?

The popular social networking site Facebook is holding an event at its headquarters in Palo Alto, CA. Invitaions have already been sent to big tech news giants.

There are reports that just like twitter revamped it look a few weeks ago facebook will get a new look and have new features and a revamped chat service. Reports say that there has been a state of "Lockdown" at Facebook HQ since last two months or so working on this new design.

Some reports say Facebook has already started rolling out the new design to it users.

There are also rumors that Facebook will integrate video calling powered by skype.

But we can only wait and watch as to whats going to come and we hope its going to add more value and a much simpler user interface.

RIM officially in the Tablet Game : BlackBerry PlayBook

The tablet market is getting hotter and all big/small mobile and computer manufacturers are trying to wash their hands into the money the tablet era is going to create. 

Earlier today RIM (Research In Motion) the company know for its popular BlackBerry Smart phone unveiled  its first ever Tablet called the "BlackBerry PlayBook" which is dubbed to be a Professional tablet PC. Mike Lazaridis, President and Co CEO unveiled  it at the annual BlackBerry DEVCON. 

The device is a master piece I would say it is beautifully designed and is an incredibly powerful device. It features a Cortex A9 based Dual Core 1GHz processor, 1GB of RAM and the amazing new  BlackBerry Tablet OS which has support for symmetric multiprocessing which makes it great at multitasker, this has a set a new benchmark for the tablet market. In terms of design it is a very slim ultra portable device wich makes it suitable for both work and play. It Measures 5.1”x7.6”x0.4” (130mm x 193mm x 10mm) and weighs in a little less than a pound (400g or approximately 0.9 lb). The tablet features two 3 MP front facing, 5 MP rear facing cameras and supports 1080p HD video recording and video conferencing.

Verbatim launches 64 GB SDXC class 10 memory cards Plus Info about SDXC

Verbatim a popular and old digital storage company launched its new series of  SDXC memory cards.

SDXC is  the new standard in the storage industry which came up earlier this year. SDXC stands for Secure Digital Extended Capacity. What SDXC means for you is bigger memory card sizes and faster data transfer rates which is becoming increasingly important with our versatile usage of digital media.

The older SDHC format could only supports a maximum memory size of 32GB and had slower data transfer rates. The new SDXC however can be expanded to a whopping maximum capacity of 2TB in size and almost have transfer rates of  upto 832 Mbit/s

Microsoft bring HD to its webcams : Microsoft - LifeCam Studio Webcam

High definition is now really catching up, just like CDs and DVDs replaced Audio cassettes and VHS, so is HD replacing standard definition.

Microsoft recently announced a new High definition webcam setting a new standard in the webcam hardware industry the webcam is called Microsoft - LifeCam Studio Webcam. It is a first from Microsoft to offer 1080p HD recording capability. It has a 1080p sensor which is almost more than 2 times larger than most of the 720p webcam out there. The webcam lets more light in so it can virtually work in any light conditions. Its doesnt matter if your sitting in a dark room where the screen is the only source lighting your face or besides a bright light source like a window.

In addition it has a really compact and great industrial design which lets you mount it on a tripod stand another first for Microsoft, this lets you use it for more purposes than just a webcam.

Additional features include a 360 degree view range so you can point the lens to where you exactly want.

plus it has a special elongated hood modeled after a high end camera which protect the lens from stray light thus avoiding washed out and glare colors.  It also has a built in High Fidelity Microphone so you don't need to use a separate microphone for sound.

Google Instant the new way to get results faster

We spent a lot of time searching for stuff on the internet and the Google keyword prediction helps a lot to get to what we want. How about getting results for the predicted keyword  in real time as you type. That's what Google has come up with.

Earlier today Google announced a new product called Google Instant, on it official blog which will offer real time search results as and when you type in the search box with every letter you punch in.

Currently this service is only available on Google domains in the US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Russia and only for people who are logged into their Google account. Google will roll out the service on other international Google domains soon. You have to be patient if you are in India.

Samsung GALAXY Tab makes iPad look old technology?

After the launch of the iPad tablet device from Apple earlier this year there has been a large number of tablet devices that have flooded the market in the past few months, you name it and its there. Tablets are easy to use portable and have a better battery life, have larger displays which make it suitable for watching movies/videos as an Ebook reader and a full web browsing device.

On 2nd September Samsung Electronics Co. released its first ever tablet device called the Samsung GALAXY Tab (Model: GT-P1000). This is the beginning of the new generation of mobile tablet devices from Samsung. Moreover it is the industries first DivX certified tablet device and will fully support DivX HD video playback.

What it holds?

The GALAXY Tab is one amazing device when it comes to specs, Its like the Samsung Galaxy S gone large. It runs on the Latest Android 2.2(Froyo) OS which gives you access to the big app library on the Android Market Place. It features the 1Ghz Cortex A8 processor which will handles all intrusive tasks with ease. It has a dimension of  190.09 x 120.45 x11.98 mm and just weighs at 380gms which makes it ultra portable. It features a bright and large 7-inch (1024x600) so you can enjoy high res HD movies. It even supports multi-touch zoom. It has 16/32GB of onboard storage plus you can add another 32GB via a MicroSD card. It also features 2 Cameras a 3MP With Auto focus and flash in the back and 1.3MP in the front. So you can have video calling and video conferencing.

SeaSwarm autonomous oil absorbing robot for cleaning up oil spills

Oils spills have becomes a grave problem across the world in recent times. The major one being the Gulf of Mexico Oil spill which has posed a great threat to the surrounding ecosystem nearly destroying it. A lot of skimmers were deployed after the oil spill to clean up but they are not at all efficient as they can only collect 3% of the total oil spilled onto the sea. They are quite primitive in a sense in this high tech world of ours.

So address to such issues in future, Researchers at MIT from the Senseable City Lab have designed a system called the 'SeaSwarm'.

SeaSwarm is a fleet of autonomous vehicles/robot which makes it possible to clean future oil spills in a efficient and less expensive way than exiting skimming methods.

How it works?

The main thing that makes this prototype work so effectively is the use of a thin nanowire mesh fabric to absorb oil. This nano-material fabric selectively absorbs oil from water without collecting any water. The fabric can then be heated to get back oil absorbed by it. This nano fabric can be used over and over again. This fabric patented/ developed by MIT can absorb 20 times its weight in oil.

World's smallest Solid State Drive (iSSD) from SanDisk

Ultra small devices are all making their way into everyone's pockets. People now a days want more from their portable devices than ever before. The ultra portable device market is expected to grow tremendously in coming years. With that we will need more efficient larger and faster storage solutions.  The ordinary flash storage will not keep up to it.

This past week SanDisk announced the world's smallest integrated Solid State Drive (iSSD) which is the size of a postage stamp! The benefits of SSDs are just amazing, they are faster than any other storage solutions, have no moving parts and run cooler and quieter.The SanDisk iSSD drive is the first flash SSD device to support the industry standard SATA interface. Moreover it is an integrable solution package so it can be just soldered on to any mother-board. This makes it possible for OEMs to produce notebooks, tablets and other ultra portable devices with an amazing combination of thin, lightweight form factors with fast performance.

MobileASL to change the way Deaf and Dumb communicate through cell phones

Mobile Phones are used by almost everybody in the world. But there is a certain group of people for whom cell phones are just useless when it comes to talking, they can only send text messages and Emails, obviously they are the Deaf and Dumb. The only alternative is sign language for them, but that requires video telephony (Video Calling). It requires high speed 3G network connections which is not affordable  for everyone. So the only option is to come up with video compression technology which can be used on standard GPRS networks without a significant drop in video quality so the sign language is still understandable to the person on the other side and not just some random pixels moving on the screen.

That's what a team of engineers lead by Eve Riskin, professor of electrical engineering. at The University of Washington are trying to develop. It is the first device to transmit American Sign Language over U.S. cellular networks its named MobileASL. The whole idea behind this project is to Transmit sign language as efficiently as possible to increase affordability, improves reliability on slower networks and extends battery life, even on devices that might have the capacity to deliver higher quality video. 

TVS Gold Bharat is the first keyboard with Rupee symbol

Last month the New Rupee Symbol was announced to the world and now we even have a prototype keyboard with the rupee symbol etched on it from TVS electronics.

TVS electronics unveiled  the first prototype of the TVS Gold Bharat on the 15 August which will sport the new Rupee symbol placed on the left side button besides "1" or the first key in first line which has the  ~  symbol on it.

Unique Air Shutter Helps Chevrolet Cruze get Fuel economy of 40MPG

With growing fuel costs and problems of global warming that are being faced by our planet, automotive industry is trying its best to create cars and engines that are more fuel efficient. In a recent news release Chevrolet unveiled the working of The Air Shutter system which is going to be used in the much awaited Chevrolet Cruze Eco model giving it a decently good fuel economy of  40MPG or 17 kmpl.

Air Shutter System Working

Greg Fadler, aerodynamics engineering group manager at Chevrolet and his team developed The Air Shutter system to make 2011 Chevrolet Cruze Eco one of the most fuel efficient small cars on the market achieving almost hybrid like fuel economy without the Hybrid cost and maintenance.

This was achieved by using commonly used techniques of reducing overall weight and ride height to provide it the aerodynamic benefit.

Sharpie Liquid Pencil is a Pencil..no a Pen..no a Marker. What?

When it comes to stationary Pens and Pencils are the most basic things we need to write. Pens have their own advantage and  disadvantages so do Pencils. But how about having something to write with, that only has the advantages of both of them.

That's what popular stationary manufacturer Sharpie has recently come up with. 

Although we have similar products in the past, but Sharpie Liquid Pencil has a lot more to offer.

The Liquid Pencil works on what is called liquid graphite so you have the kind of fluidity and smoothness.

 

Ann Arbor gets its Hydraulic Hybrid Garbage Trucks and How they work

Most of you know that hybrid engine use a combination of an engine and an electric motor. They work by charging batteries while braking, through a process called regenerative braking. But another hybrid technology called the Hydraulic Hybrid System uses pressurized fluid instead of batteries to store energy as an alternative power source. It was developed by The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and its partners which include Army’s National Automotive Center, Hannifin Corporation, Eaton Corporation and Ford Motor Company back in 2004.

The technology wasn't much in focus for a long time, it has become more refined over the years. Around a weeks ago the city of  Ann Arbor, Michigan got its first four garbage trucks powered by HLA (Hybrid  Launch Assist) which is a type of Parallel Hydraulic Hybrid System developed by Eaton Corporation, it promises to be 30% more fuel efficient than conventional trucks. Ann Arbor was among the first to receive funding through the U.S. Department of Energy's Clean Cities Program for these Hybrid trucks. It's great news for Hydraulic Hybrid Systems and for its future.

It doesn't matter if Google TV never comes to India.

Google TV is set to revolutionize the world by changing the way people view TV but only a few people know that a device/platform similar to Google TV (GTV) is already out there from a long time.

Where did it come from?

Well an Indian Start-up located in Bangalore established in 2005 by the name NextBiT Computing already created what is called  TVeeBox. Vishal Borker, CEO and technical director of TVeeBox says 

"It is a device which is one of the first to be truly convergent says , NextBiT Computing".

NextBiT Computing has created a patented technology  named MODYA video-on-demand server architecture and middle ware technology which allows to deliver video on demand content and services over networks at just  3% of the infrastructure costs and bandwidth, which has been a problem for traditional VOD service providers.

Stanford engineers devolope a new type of solar cell

Solar cells also known as photo voltaic cells have been around for a long time, despite being used on space station programs and satellites to produce energy they never found a substantial application for energy production for our daily life. The major reason is that the energy output from solar cells is very low.

Solar energy actually has two forms of energy light and heat. Solar cells only utilize the light energy leaving a major past of heat energy unused.

No one could figure out how to tap both forms of energy until now. In fact with the current available photovoltaic technology used,  heat actually reduced the efficiency of a solar cell. But now Engineering from Stanford have figured it out! Both light and heat of the sun can be utilized to generate electricity which could make solar power production more than twice as efficient as existing methods and potentially cheap enough to compete with oil.

Microsoft Office for Mac 2011 official release date announced

Microsoft in its latest press release announced the official release of the awaited Microsoft Office for Mac 2011. It is scheduled to hit the shelf by the end of October 2010 later this year. Microsoft office suite will be available internationally in more than 100 countries.

It will be available in two version, Mac Home and Student 2011 and Office for Mac Home and Business 2011. In addition starting 1st August 2010, All customers who purchase Office 2008 for Mac will be given free upgrade to Office 2011 at no additional cost through the Microsoft Office for Mac Technology Guarantee Program.
The office suite will be available in 13 languages which include German, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Spanish and Swedish two new languages Polish and Russian have also been added. More languages will be announced in October.

New Technologies from Nissan

Leading Japanese car manufacturer Nissan announced Two new technologies World-First Electro-hydraulic Power Steering system and a new Intelligent Braking Technology.

Electro-hydraulic Power Steering system 

There are two technologies for power assisted steering which are generally used, one is the hydraulic power steering which is used in most of the cars in the world, it utilizes hydraulic pressure generated by a rotary vane pump driven by the engine to assist the driver for steering and the other is the Electric power steering which uses an electric motor to assist the driver, it works on complex electronics. It has more advantages than a Hydraulic one but can be less reliable at times. It is generally used in sports cars luxury cars and hybrids. Electric power steering is considered to be more fuel efficient of the two.

World's First End-to-End Silicon Photonics Connection from Intel

A couple of days ago Intel unveiled a new prototype which could probably change the era of electronics as we know it. Electronics works on the concept of moving electrons through conductive metals like copper wire etc.This technology has limitations of speed as only data at limited transfer rates (upto 10Gbps) can be transferred through conducting metals. Now with the advent of hi-definition video and audio formats coming closer to becoming standards our bandwidth usage is increasing at really high rates. Copper cables wont keep up with it soon. In facts it is already reaching to its limits as processing power is increasing at exponential rates and these cables are acting like a bottle neck. There is also this problem of signal loss and noise interference over long distances.

Woah! The" facebook directory" available as a torrent download!

Facebook has been always been in the news for some or the other privacy issues which really concerns a lot of users, Facebook recently went passed the 500 million user line.

This time its really bad stuff that has happened.

Information of over 100 million user is now available as a torrent download on thepiratebay.org. The torrent was uploaded yesterday (28/7/2010) on PirateBay by the username phatwarez.

Will the Computer Mouse Die?

Apple yesterday unveiled a new line up of stuff which includes the 27-inch Apple LED Cinema Display which will be available later in September this year, New line up of Mac Pros powered by Intel Xeon “Nehalem”  processor having 4, 6, 8, or 12 cores which is claimed to be the fastest Mac Pro ever they will also feature  the new SSD (Solid State Hard Drives) as an option for performance hungry users, it will be available next month. A new lineup of  iMac which feature the latest core i3, i5, i7 processors. The most interesting news here is the new Magic Trackpad which will make the mouse history for most mac users.

Magic TrackPad

Finally multi touch has made to the desktop as well, the magic trackpad is something like a touch pad in mac book pro grown big. It is the largest trackpad ever made. Its made out of wear resistant glass surface. It has a really great ergonomic design to it and fits in perfectly besides the Apple Wireless Keyboard so you can type and use the touch pad without any problem.

Batteries that charge themselves when given a shake

I have the Seiko 5 Superior Automatic wrist watch that runs without any batteries all it requires is a shake to keep it running no maintenance at all. What if that was same with most of your battery operated devices like your remote controls  led torches and other portable devices which run on AA/AAA size batteries. Thats what a Japan based company named Brother Industries Ltd revealed in an event (TEchno Frontier 2010) in Tokyo this past week. The company call it "Vibration-powered Generating Battery". The company mainly specializes in Printers and printing solution based products.

How It works?

Now when it comes to normal disposable batteries they consists of chemicals which undergo electrochemical reactions to generate electric current. The Vibration-powered Generating Battery however has no chemicals in it, it works on the electro-mechanical method like a dynamo found in a bicycle. The battery casing has a coil a magnet and a condenser (capacitor to store current). Whenever the battery receives a shaking movement the magnets slide up and down, a current is induced in the coil and is stored in the condenser for use. The batteries are not that powerful they can only run devices that require less power. The average power output is between 10 to 180mW  and the voltage output is around 3.2 volts from the two prototype batteries. It is good enough for a T.V.remote control which is under constant handling Brother industries said that for a T.V remote it would require a shake every 10-30 button presses. Not bad for a prototype.

Dell Streak Phone/Tablet Hybrid

A couple years ago we had a time when Mobiles phones were turning smaller and smaller, all of sudden with the advent of high end smart phone devices, tablet devices like iPad and especially the Android OS we have seen a considerable increase in the screen sizes in recent time and so we now have bigger phones like the Samsung Galaxy S, Motorola DROID X  and HTC EVO 4G. Forget phones we now have a Phone-Tablet Hybrid The Dell Streak.

Dell Streak is a device which has the capability of a fully functional table device plus a smart phone. The Dell Streak was first revealed at CES 2010, Dell Streak was launched in the U.K. over a month ago and expected to be launched in U.S. by the end of July.

Tape that creates an illusion of a hinge

Packaging tape is something which is very important in the packaging industry and our daily life to some extent. It comes in various colors and materials, despite the high end printing technology we have, we haven't seen any innovative stuff done with tapes. People always like something which has an innovative look to it  and looks good to the eye. 

When you seal flaps of a box with a tape it acts similar to a hinge so why not make it look like a hinge. That's what Jeong-Min Lee & Hyoung-Min Park from a South Korean based design collective studio have come up with. They have printed a realistic looking hinge design on a 50mm x 45mm on Opp material tape. It creates  an illusion of a hinge which gives packaging a tough look, its cool.

Robot that works on biomass eats and poos like an organism

Robots in general require batteries and have a limited run time this limits their ability to work autonomously. The only solution to this problem is to make use of available energy resources like solar energy, that too has its own limitations. But what if I say we already have Robots that create their energy by eating stuff and poo too.. Yeah you heard it right. 

A team of researchers, professors and scientists from the Bristol Robotics Laboratory in the UK  have created what is called the EcoBot III (Eco-bot 3). The Eco-bot 3 is the latest version of robot which works by creating energy from biomass.Ecobot III, contains a fully functional digestive system capable of ingesting biomass, turning it into energy, and then excreting waste. Ecobot is also called "The  BREADbot" (Bio-Regulation and Energy-Autonomy with Digestion), the earlier version the EcoBot 1 and EcoBot 2 worked by relying on sugar and flies diet respectively.

How does EcoBot III work?  

Ecobot III basically works by converting sewage (biomass) into energy with the help of what is called Microbial Fuel Cell technology (MFC). It is a kind of Fuel Cell which basically mimics real digestion. It makes use of complex chemical reactions which generate hydrogen, this hydrogen provides electrons to generate the electric current which powers the robot, while hydrogen ions are sent to a separate chamber where they mix with oxygen to create water. The robot is powered by a stack of 48 such Microbial Fuel Cell.

The robot excretes out the waste biomass  At the end of a complete cycle (approximately after 24 hours) a peristaltic pump evacuates the waste that has accumulated in the bottom of the conical artificial stomach.

Lg introduces New 3D products

Lg recently added new 3D products to its fleet, a 3D note book, a 3D PC monitor and a 3D projector.

LG XNote R590 3D

This is the first note book from Lg to feature 3D. It features the powerful Intel Core i7 processor with a Nvidia Geforce GT335M graphic card it has a HM55 chipset. It is an ultra portable note book with a 15.6 inch screen.

It also features SRS TruSurround HD. It has an optional Bluray drive which allows you to view HD movies in 2D and 3D.
The most exciting thing is the fact that it comes with preloaded Tri Def software which converts 2D to 3D in real time it comes with  Polarized glasses which are best for watching 3D content as they produce minimum eye fatigue, they are light weight too. 

Rexbionics takes bionics technology to another level

People who are bound to use a wheel chair face a lot of problem in their daily life. Seemingly simple tasks like getting over a side walk or climbing a couple of steps can be really difficult and almost impossible without someones assistance. That's about to change for good, a new bionic exoskeleton developed by a New Zealand based company Rex Bionics has taken bionics to another level. Exoskeletons aren't something new we have seen them in movies, they have been developed for military applications by big companies. But it wasn't until now that it was used for handicapped people.

The whole concept came about to founders and high school friends Richard Little and Robert Irving, when Robert Irving received a diagnosis for Multiple Sclerosis, he realized that he would need a wheel chair one day. Both of them belong to Engineering backgrounds, so they undertook the task of developing a  realistic standing and walking alternative to wheelchairs. So after 7years of hard work they have come up with REX.

New Nvidia GeForce 460GTX gaming chip for $199

Nvidia has been a leading manufacturer when it comes to Graphic cards, in fact Nvidia was the Company to first invent the concept of GPU (Graphic processing Unit) back in 1999 and introduce the world with the power of high end computer graphics to personal computers.

On 12th July Nvidia announced an addition to its high end 400 series GPUs,  the GTX460 chip which just costs $199. The Graphics card  has been received by analyst and reviewers and most of them claim it to the best card when it comes to value for money. What makes this card so special is the fact that it is based on Nvidia's new Fermi design, which was originally marketed as a supercomputer chip. The Chip has created a lot of buzz among the gamer's community.
Nvidia was a bit left behind in the race of power at price, but now Nvidia's competitors ATI seems like its left behind in the "Bang  for Price war".

Samsung Galaxy Beam worlds first phone with a projector

Smart phones got it all, High resolution cameras, GPS navigation, High speed Internet, touch screens almost everything that could be crammed in.

Leading Smart phone manufacturer Samsung  recently announced the official  release date of the world's first smart phone which features a projector!, yeah a projector which actually projects on a surface. Its name Samsung Galaxy Beam (Model: GT-I8520). Samsung first unveiled this smart phone at the Mobile world congress earlier this year in February under the name Halo.

Self cleaning roads which clean the air too

Pollution is a serious problem all across the world, wouldn't it be great if the streets clean themselves and also the air around them. A new kind of concrete mixture researched by the University of Eindhoven in the Netherlands  has shown some significant figures resulting in decrease in the concentration of nitrogen oxides (NOx) by 25 to 45% , NOx is what results in acid rain which is very dangerous for the fertility of soil and human skin.

Mr Jos Brouwers a professor of building materials at the Eindhoven University of Technology reveled this in his inaugural speech, he sees numerous potential applications for this technology. The concrete stones used in the tests are made by paving stone manufacturer Struyk Verwo Infra, and are already available for real world applications. 

Pranav Mistry's new innovation the invisible computer mouse.(Mouseless)

After coming up with the popular invention of Sixth sense technology Pranav Mistry, Pattie Maes and Liyan Chang from MIT's Media Lab have come up with a new innovation the Invisible computer mouse. No Doubt mouse is a very important peripheral of the computer, over all these years it has steadily gone through changes from  losing the tracker ball to getting laser tracker for improved precision, becoming wireless to turning in to a touch sensitive pad found in a laptop and there are a ton of other mouse design concept that people have come up with, but no one had every thought of turning it invisible.

How Invisible Mouse works

The invisible mouse is no alien technology! There have been a lot of advancement in multi-touch,  gesture interface technologies but all these technologies have not been explored to their full potential. The mouse still has the same kind of buttons since it was first made. When it comes to Pranav Mistry's mouseless interface it consists of  two major components, an Infrared (IR) laser beam and an Infrared camera. Now the laser beam is modified by fitting it with a line cap which creates a plane of infrared laser just above the surface where the computer is placed. Now the user has to place their hand like they are holding a real mouse, the IR beam covers the hand. Now the IR (infrared) camera detects  the hand movements and creates what is called blob (interpreted by computer) the change in the IR created by the hand movements is thus detected by the computer and the cursor thus move the way you move your hand on the surface just like a real mouse. When you tap your index finger it is able to detect a click.

Hardware trojans another way to steal data

Ever wondered if your mouse keyboard or other USB peripherals could transmit sensitive data. Yes this is possible with what is called "Hardware Trojan". Hardware Trojans are compromised hardware devices which can send data to a remote thief. Until now Hardware Trojan was considered as modified electronic circuitry like if it has been fabricated in the factory to do so but, a recent finding by engineers at the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, Ontario suggests that a flaw in the USB could be used to sack into data from the hard disk.

The USB's plug and play functionality allows any device being plugged in to report its identity correctly. If the swapped device belongs to the same manufacturer and model the computer will not even notice a change in the device. Any USB device like a keyboard or a mouses could be swapped to a hacked one without  the user knowing it. The engineers at Royal Military college successful designed a USB keyboard that successfully transmitted  binary data from the Hard Drive via led flashing which could be encoded using Morse Code and by encoding data as a subtle warbling output from the sound card.

Toshiba and Intel to commercialize an educational-use tablet PC for school kids

Toshiba and Intel recently announced the launch of a tablet PC  in Japan for elementary and junior high schools kids named CM1. The tablet is focused to foster ICT (Information and communication technologies) skill among kids. The CM1 came up due to The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications of Japan which set out a policy of providing digital textbooks for all elementary and junior high school students by 2015.

Microsoft Instaload technology lets you put batteries the way you want.

You might have come across times when you insert batteries in the wrong way and the device wont start. It happens with a lot of people but no one came up with a solution, but the IT giant Microsoft with its new technology called InstaLoad.

How Instaload works

You might wonder it works on complex electronics but the fact is its a purely mechanical design that makes it work. It has a set of positive and negative contacts at both ends, unlike only positive at one end and only negative at the other end. So always the battery either interfaces with a positive contact or a negative contact. Check out the contact design diagram.

How to trace the location of a host server

Whenever you visit a website you are routed through various servers and locations before ending up to the final host server here's a method to trace the location of a host server through a really simple command and a website which can be used on any Windows PC.

Step 1
Click on Start and go to command prompt by typing cmd in the run box. OR Simply go to Accessories and click on Command Prompt.

Step 2
In the Command Prompt Type tracert followed by the address of the website you want to trace. For example if you want to trace the routes for my website-- 

tracert www.mytechcenter.co.cc
OR  tracert www.yahoo.com  

(Remember only type address beginning with www don't type the url with http://)

Now my website is hosted on blogger so it is hosted on google servers. It takes almost 18 routes before reaching my website from my internet connection.

Step 3

Now that we have traced the host server IP ie. the last line before trace complete, in my case as you can see it is 74.125.95.121 we can easily trace the server location and other details. Now you can't use copy in Command Prompt so just write down the IP address  on a piece of paper or type it on notepad and then put in the Lookup IP Information box on the website  

http://ip-address-lookup-v4.com  and hit enter.

It will show you all the details of the website like its location on google maps ,the hosting service, company name and a ton of other stuff.

You can also trace the location of the routes you went through by putting in the route IP addresses. 

Have fun tinkering and finding server locations of your favorite websites! If you have a problem doing it, put it in the comments and i can help you out.

7999 Rs Netbook with free internet for one year

Datawind Ltd. a leading developer of wireless web access products and services recently launched its first product in India the UbiSurfer, which just cost 7999 INR with a one year internet subscription plan. The netbook runs on a modified version of  the  Debian operating system (OS) which is what make it low cost. Another version runs on the classic Windows CE OS. The netbook is power by an AMR9 processor and has a 7 inch TFT – Wide screen display running at a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels (WVGA). 

The Ubisurfer is not your ordinary net book it runs on a patented client/server architecture to deliver the power of a powerful server in the palm of your hand. Plus its small form factor makes it more portable. 

"Our primary focus is on cost, and making the cost of both the hardware and the usage affordable for the masses"  is what Suneet S Tuli, CEO of Datawind said in a recent online interview.

Netra lets you tests your eyes through a mobile phone.

To get your eyes checked you have to take an appointment go visit the optometrist and then go through a series of test. All the equipment involved like an Aberrometer in the test costs a lot. Poor countries and civilizations cannot afford it and are therefore deprived from quality vision. But now the function of the Aberrometer has been shrinked to just a small lens device and a smart phone screen.

A team at MIT media labs consisting of Ankit Mohan, Manuel M. Oliveira Neto, Vitor Pamplona and Ramesh Raskar have come up with an amazing prototype device and a software which lets to detect the power of refractive errors in your eye anyplace anytime.

Courtesy gizmag.com

The whole system consists of  three things, a plastic device consisting of a lenses, a mobile phone and a software installed on the cellphone. The plastic device is clipped to the cellphone screen. Then the patient looks through the lens to see a pair of parallel  lines, now the patient has to press the arrow keys until the parallel green and red lines seem to overlap. This is repeated 8 times with different angles for each eye, the software comes up with prescription data. The devices has no moving parts and hence no maintenance. The software is based on a  technology called Bokodes which was developed last year which helps to store a large amount of information on a tiny square code. 

International Engine Of The Year Award Winners

This is for all you engine lovers.

The Engine Technology International , published by UKIP Media & Events has been organizing  The International Engine of the Year Awards since 1999 and now are considered the most prestigious in the auto industry. Here is a brief insight into the winner of the top four category winners.

International Engine of the Year 2010 (Volkswagen 1.4-litre TSI Twincharger)

For the second consecutive year Volkswagen 1.4-litre TSI Twincharger is the winner in this category. This is an amazing engine which uses a combination of a turbocharger and  a supercharger with a direct fuel injector The first engine of its kind in history. It gives a power output of upto 125kW (170bhp) and 240Nm of torque. 

(While most 1.4L engine produce around 100bhp)

As Volkswagen says "The 1.4-litre TSI engine manages to do the work of a 2.5-litre engine". That with great fuel efficiency figures of 7.2l/100km (13.9km/l). This engine proves the fact that even small engines can pack a punch whiles turning great efficiency  figures.

Toshiba Libretto W100 dual screen concept laptop

Toshiba is celebrating its 25th Anniversary as a part of it, recently unveiled a dual touch screen concept laptop named Libretto W100. Its a beautifully designed ultra portable laptop computer which has 2 fully functional  multitouch 7 inch screens instead of a keyboard. Its small enough to fit in a jacket pocket and can be easily fits in a palm.

The W100 is powered by Windows 7 Home Premium OS. It even has a strong hardware configuration consisting of Intel Pentium U5400 CPU@1.2Ghz, 2GB DDR3 RAM, 64GB Solid State Hard Drive, It has six virtual keyboard modes plus a virtual touchpad. Plus it will feature Haptic response. It even feature custom applications to improve user experience. 

Its dimensions are 4.84 inches X 7.95 inches, The form factor is quite small, it is a first of a kind device from Toshiba, as said in the press release it will be a limited edition device. Toshiba plans to sell limited units and get feedback from users to develop better products in the future. Its quite an iPad killer considering the fact that despite being so small and portable it is as powerful as a decent laptop/netbook so it will let you do more than an iPad.

Affordable and portable Fuel cell technology is here.

Fuel cell technology has been around for years now but there hasn't been any significant application of it in our real life yet. That's about to change though, a company by the  Name Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies based in Singapore has come up with an amazing portable fuel cell Charger/Power pack named "The MiniPak" which can juice up all your portable devices which require power up to 2W (5V 400mA) anywhere anytime. 

For those of you who don't know, fuel cell technology produces electric current by combining Hydrogen and Oxygen molecules and the emission is just water vapor so its a green technology.

It consist of a small device which fits in your palm and a refillable solid-state hydrogen cartridge which can be removed refilled and inserted in the device like a battery. The power is delivered through a standard usb port. The cartridge is called HydroSTIK and has a battery like form factor. One fully filled Hyrostik delivers enough to last upto 3 charging cycles for smart phones and 4-6 cycles for mobile phones. The Hydrostik lasts as much as 1000 disposable AA size alkaline batteries before a replacement.The Hydrostik is 100% recyclable 

Budget Android phones in India

The Android was meant to be an OS for the masses but it didn’t turn out as expected rather, the handsets based on it were more costly than expected. The geek community in India had a lot of expectations from the Android OS but here in India only a few handsets were released despite the fact that India is the one of the biggest market for handset manufacturers. The Google phone or the Nexus one is yet to be launched in India. The ones that were released initially almost cost as much as a good laptop! But that is changing steadily as manufacturers like Samsung and LG have joined the Android bandwagon.If you are looking for an Android based phone which fits your budget here are two handsets one from LG and one from Samsung.

LG GW620

This is LG's first Android  phone to come to India. This phone from LG runs on the Android 1.5 cupcake version which is a bit old for the time but it is quite feature packed. It has a bright 3 inch touch screen and a full QWERTY slide out keypad.
Street Price in India  is Rs 15,099

Youtube's New feature, Download video in MP4 format

Youtube.com now Offers a new feature, to download a video in MP4 format. But not all videos have this feature only the videos Licensed  under Creative Commons (Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works) are available for download.

Check out this snapshot 

Garmin Asus M10 has voice navigation in Hindi

Last Month Garmin and Asus in collaboration launched its new smart phone,  

The Garmin-Asus M10.  

It features the latest Windows Mobile 6.5.3 OS. It has a sleek design a 3.5 inch WVGA screen.The 3D task manager enables users to switch between running applications. The phones sports a powerful 600Mhz Qualcomm chipset which runs the Windows Mobile OS like a breeze.

                                              Image courtesy www.techtree.com

Aussie Scientists Unveil Bionic Eye Prototype

This past week Australian Researchers from Bionic Vision Australia (BVA) and University of New South Wales unveiled a Prototype of a Bionic vision device which could help people with vision loss due to macular degeneration or retinitis pigmentosa. 

The Device comprises of eye glasses, mounted on it is a small video camera. The camera gives its video feed to a small pocket CPU which processes it and wirelessly transfers signals to an electrode chip surgical mounted on the retina. The electrode chip has 98 electrodes which stimulates cells on the optical nerve. This enables the patient to see his surroundings