MICROSOFT EYES WHITE SPACE TECH TO PROVIDE FREE INTERNET IN INDIA

Tech giants such as Facebook and Google are already making efforts (with their Internet beaming drone and balloon projects) to provide Internet access in areas that still don't have it. Soon, Microsoft will join the bandwagon as it plans to use “white space” - unused spectrum between two TV channels – to provide Internet connectivity in remote areas of India.

“Wifi has a range of only about 100 metres, whereas the 200-300 MHz spectrum band available in the white space can reach up to 10 km,” Bhaskar Pramanik, chairman, Microsoft India is quoted as saying. “This spectrum belongs mainly to Doordarshan and the government and is not used at all. We have sought clearance for a pilot project in two districts.”

“The challenge is the lack of digital infrastructure across India. This initiative addresses this challenge in a cost-effective manner and creates an eco-system that will benefit everyone, including manufacturers of routers and other technology devices, other technology companies, besides Microsoft,” Pramanik said.

Microsoft’s new initiative could provide a huge boost to the Indian government's Make in India and Digital India campaigns. Microsoft has shown keen interest in being part of the movements.

White space, in telecommunications, is referred to the frequencies allotted to a broadcasting service but is unused. The unused frequencies are considered to have potential for provide wireless broadband Internet access. A device that can be used with such tech is called "white-space device” (WSD). White space tech is expected to push Internet connectivity in rural areas. Read more about White Space radio here.

As far as India goes, the new Modi-led government has given a high priority to the IT sector. Under its ambitious digital India campaign, the government wants to connect about 2.5 lakh panchayats across the country with broadband, and plans to build a broadband highway in the country.

As said above, Microsoft is not alone in its efforts to push Internet connectivity in remote and rural areas. Facebook is already working on drones to beam internet connections to people down here on earth. Google's project Loon envisages providing Internet access through high-altitude balloons placed in the stratosphere. According to reports, the Indian government has shown a 'great interest' in its 'Project Loon'.

Source: Hindustan Times

SAMSUNG PLANS TO LAUNCH FIRST TIZEN OS PHONES IN INDIA

According to reports, Samsung is planning to launch a new range of budget devices in India based on its home-grown Tizen operating system. The smartphone is expected to be launched within a month.

Samsung's Tizen OS based smartphone will feature a 4-inch display, dual SIM functionality and integrated FM Radio. It will have a 3.2 MP rear camera and 512 MB of RAM. It will have 4 GB internal memory expandable up to 32 GB via microSD card support. The device is expected to be affordably priced between Rs 5,000 and Rs 15,000. Samsung has declined to comment and says that the news is "market speculation."

Reports stated that Samsung has made India the launch pad for its Samsung Tizen OS as it has been under pressure in the domestic smartphone market because of increased competition from brands like Micromax.

According to a recent Gfk report, Samsung's smartphone market share in India fell to just over 32% in August from around 32.5% in July, but recovered approximately 33% in September, thanks to new devices in the budget segment. The report highlighted that although Samsung retained the top spot, Micromax, Nokia, Lava and Karbonn have also gained a lot of market share.

Emerging markets like India are becoming the focus of technology giants to market their offerings. Recently Internet giant Google unveiled its budget Android One devices in the country, while Intex launched Mozilla OS-based affordable smartphones. Other electronics giant like Xiaomi and Panasonic have also launched budget devices under Rs. 15,000 in India, in a bid to gain market share.

Source: ET      

MOTO X (2ND GEN) WILL BE 1ST PHONE TO GET ANDROID 5.0 LOLLIPOP

Guess who just beat Google to its own update? Motorola has pushed out the Android 5.0 Lollipop update to its MotoX (2nd Gen) smartphone. The maker of the Nexus 6 was also first off the mark to announce the Lollipop update for its devices. The company has given the updates to its ‘Soak Test’ users, bringing all the features of Lollipop to its newest flagship smartphone.

Motorola has already announced the Lollipop update for its Moto X (2nd Gen and 1st Gen), Moto G (2nd Gen and 1st Gen), Moto E and some Droid series smartphones. In addition, the Droid Turbo, or the Moto Maxx, as it is known in its international avataar, is also sure to get the update to the new version.

Currently, the company has sent out updates to the ‘Pure’ edition of the new Moto X. This is an unlocked version of the device. In addition, the update is currently available to users who had signed up for the Motorola Feedback Network and opted in to its ‘Soak Test’ initiative. The company is presumably using this to test out the update before sending it out to all its users. Below is a video of the Moto X (2nd Gen) running Lollipop, published by Droid Life on YouTube.

Interestingly, another Nexus maker, LG, which made the Nexus 4 and Nexus 5 smartphones has also announced the update for its current flagship, the LG G3. The company has started rolling out the update to some of its users in Poland and has announced that it will be doing so to others over the next week.

GOOGLE'S PROJECT ARA SMARTPHONES MAY BE ABLE TO MONITOR YOUR BLOOD OXYGEN LEVELS

It was revealed recently that Google's much anticipated Project Ara will have swappable health related accessories, one of which is a Pulse Oximeter. The Pulse Oximeter will allow the smartphone to measure oxygen levels in your blood. This woill increase the potential of the yet to be announced smartphone and extend its capabilities to be used as mobile health monitors.

Google’s Project Ara is making heads turn since the first prototype was unveiled as it has swappable internals. The Project, which was originally headed by Motorola Mobility, became Google’s pet project after Motorola was sold off to Lenovo.

Google's Project Ara is expected to come though with a phone early next year but we are skeptical over the number of swappable accessories in the final product. The phone most probably will be available as a base skeleton on which multiple swappable parts could be added later on.

Source:ubergizmo

APPLE OFFERS SOLUTION FOR MISSING TEXT MESSAGES PROBLEM

Technology giant Apple has released a tool that will allow iOS users to de-register their phone number from Apple's proprietary iMessage service, to stop text messages from disappearing when a user switches to a non-Apple device.

Apple has included step-by-step instructions for de-registering iPhones from the iMessage service if the owner still uses their iPhone. It also gives the user an option where they can type in their phone number and receive a confirmation code that can be entered to confirm their intent, if they have switched to another platform. Once they receive the confirmation code on their cell phone, users can enter it at Apple's website, to delist from iMessage. After that, the messages sent from the iOS devices will automatically switch to the standard SMS or MMS messages rather than iMessage.

Apple introduced the iMessage service in 2011. The feature helps iPhone users to communicate with one another over Wi-Fi or data networks, as an alternative to using text messages on cellular networks. However, once the users switches from their iPhone to an Android or Windows device the messages disappear. Unhappy users have even sued the technology giant over the matter.

Earlier this year, Apple had stated that it planned to make it easier for people to delist their account from iMessage. Unlike BlackBerry's BBM or Google Hangouts, which can be accessed on competing devices via third-party applications, Apple's iMessage service is still exclusive to Apple devices.

Source: Apple

FACEBOOK GIVES USERS MORE CONTROL ON NEWS FEED

Facebook has rolled out new filters in settings that gives users more control over what they see on their News Feeds. The new settings are launched on desktop and will be coming to mobile apps over the next few weeks.

The new news Feed settings will now show a list of the top people, Groups and pages that you’ve seen in your News Feed over the past week. Users can choose to sort by pages, people or Groups posts, or see an overall summary of their newsfeed. The filters allow you to unfollow any friend, Group or page if you don’t want to see their stories in your News Feed. Alternatively users can also see who they have unfollowed in the past and re-follow them at anytime.

The new filters allows users to hide specific posts from certain people by clicking on the grey arrow at the corner of the post. Users also get an option to see fewer stories from a particular user, or alternatively stop following them completely. 

Product manager Greg Marra said in a blog post, "Unfollow any friend, Page or Group if you don’t want to see their stories in your News Feed. You can also see who you’ve unfollowed in the past and can choose to re-follow them at anytime."

"If you see a story you’re not interested in or don’t want to see, you can tap the arrow in the top right of that story to hide it. Starting today, when you hide a story you’ll have the option to ask to see less from that person or Page," he added.

Source: Facebook

TomTom Runner Cardio: Fitness Tracker Review

The TomTom Runner Cardio stands out among GPS watches because it has a built-in heart-rate monitor. The watch is a simple device for people who want to track their running workouts. In addition to heart rate, the device measures the distance, time, pace, speed and calories burned while you run, and displays them on a large, easy-to-read screen. It also displays the time of day.

Priced at $269.99 on Amazon, the TomTom Runner Cardio is more expensive than the Adidas miCoach Fit Smart (about $190 on Amazon), which also has a built-in heart-rate monitor. But the miCoach is not recommended for swimming, whereas the TomTom is waterproof to 165 feet (50 m).

Both the TomTom and the miCoach cost more than other GPS watches that can be paired with separate heart-rate monitors, such as the Garmin Forerunner 110 GPS-Enabled Sport Watch with Heart Rate Monitor (about $140 on Amazon), and the Polar RS300x Heart Rate Monitor (about $87 on Amazon). But these less expensive devices require you to wear the monitor on a chest strap, instead of conveniently letting you wear it on your wrist.

I wore the TomTom Runner Cardio several times over the course of a week, to see if the device is really as useful for tracking runs as claimed.   

Design/Comfort:★★★★☆

The Runner Cardio is worn like a watch — it comes in one size and has an adjustable, clip-on rubber strap. The whole thing weighs 2.2 ounces (62 grams) and is about half an inch (1.3 centimeters) thick, but doesn't feel excessively bulky. The strap is about 9 inches (23 cm) long, and could be made to fit snugly even on my relatively slender wrist. It was easy to put on the watch or take it off.

The watch face comes in white and black, and the strap comes in red, black, green and gray. The design is pretty sleek, though its size gives it a somewhat masculine look. The display is about 0.86 by 1 inch (2.2 by 2.5 cm), with a resolution of 144 x 168 pixels. I found it easy to read, and it comes with a backlight for low light or nighttime use. The home screen displays the time of day.

The device has four buttons arranged around the edges of a square that lies right below the display. A button on the side of the display activates the backlight. The battery lasts up to 8 hours with both the GPS and heart-rate tracking functions turned on, or up to 10 hours with GPS only.

The heart-rate monitor can be turned on or off before a workout, but once it's on, it provides heart-rate data in real time. Because the button beneath the display is fairly large, it's easy press it to cycle through your metrics, to see your pace, speed, distance, calories and heart rate while running.

User friendliness: ★★★★☆

Accessing and activating the watch's tracking features was pretty intuitive, so you don't need to spend a lot of time reading a manual. The watch has to acquire a GPS signal before you can start clocking a run, which it did pretty quickly the first time I tried it but took a while the second time.

The device syncs wirelessly via Bluetooth to the MySports smartphone app on your phone, which can be downloaded for free from an app store for iOS or Android. The first time you use the app, you have to link your watch to your MySports account using a computer, which is relatively straightforward.

The app then displays your workouts by date, including the distance and duration of your runs. You can also view each workout to see more info, including calories burned, pace, elevation gain, heart rate and stride, as well as a map of your run. The app will create charts of some of these metrics over time, which could be useful if you are training for an event like a race.

The only real problem I encountered using the Runner Cardio was sometimes having to wait awhile for the watch to acquire a GPS signal before I could start my run. I also noticed that the watch's clock didn't sync to daylight saving time automatically. 

Value of information: ★★★★☆

The ability to measure heart rate, distance and speed in a single wrist-worn device was definitely useful, and even though I'm not a huge fitness buff, I appreciated having all this data because it helped me see my progress over time, and feel a sense of accomplishment.

The app lets you set goals for distance, time and calories, or measure laps or times you want to achieve, and then motivates you to strive for these goals by giving you text reminders about your activity. For example, when I went from running to walking too quickly at the end of my workout, the watch alerted me to my "poor recovery."

You can also use the watch without the GPS feature on a treadmill, but the distance tracking may not be as accurate. (In our review of the TomTom Multi-Sport GPS Watch— a similar model — we found that without GPS, the device reported distance measurements that were as much as 30 percent inflated.)

The Runner Cardio can be used for swimming as well, though I didn't test this feature. 

Enjoyment/Inspiration: ★★★★☆

Overall, I found the device simple and enjoyable to use, and my desire to see my data and improve my progress toward my goals convinced me to go running on a few days when I probably otherwise wouldn't have.

According to TomTom, you can share your workout stats on popular running sites or apps, though the MySports app doesn't seem to have a built-in sharing feature. This wasn't a major issue to me, but people who like to compare workouts might have to download other apps.

Conclusion: 16 out of 20 stars

The pros of the Runner Cardio are that the built-in heart-rate monitor makes tracking your rate easier than wearing a chest strap, and the device's buttons make it very easy to see your stats at a glance. The cons are that the device may not accurately track your distance when the GPS is turned off, and acquiring a GPS signal can take a while. Also, there is no built-in feature for sharing your stats with your friends.

BUY the TomTom Runner Cardio

Ghost Illusion Created in Lab with New Robot

Sometimes, people report having felt a strange, unseen presence around them — and they may attribute it to a ghost. Now, in a new study, scientists describe how the "ghost" is an illusion made by the brain.

In experiments, the researchers were able to trick the participants' brains into creating the eerie sensation.

"The sensation that somebody is nearby when no one is actually present is called 'the feeling of a presence,'" the researchers said. "Although people do not see the 'presence,' they may describe its spatial location and frequently turn around or offer food to the invisible presence."

Apart from being a prominent feature across all cultures, the phenomenon has been described by people with psychiatric and neurological problems, and even in healthy people experiencing physical exhaustion, such as in people doing extreme mountaineering, the researchers said.

In the new study, the researchers created a robot to trigger the ghost illusion in a few dozen healthy people by causing a mismatch in their senses.

"In our first experiment, 30 percent of the healthy participants spontaneously reported the feeling of having somebody behind them, touching them," said Dr. Olaf Blanke, a neurologist at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland.

The robot was made in two parts, and the participants stood in between them — with one part behind them and the other in front of them — wearing blindfolds and headphones. The participants reached out in front of themselves and tapped a button on the robot, triggering the robot behind them to reproduce the participants' arm movements, and touch their backs. This created the illusion that the participants were reaching out in front of them and touching their own backs.

But things got even stranger when the researchers introduced a small delay between participants' actions and the robot's response.

A ghostly experience

The delay between participants' reaching out forward and the sensory signals they received on their backs from the robot touching them caused confusion over the source of their sensation. The brain faced an impossible situation in which the sensory and motor signals didn't match.

The result was an illusory experience, in which the participants perceived the touch as being caused by an invisible presence behind them that was touching their backs. 

"For some, the feeling was even so strong that they asked to stop the experiment," said Giulio Rognini, a neuroscientist at EPFL who led the study, published today (Nov. 6) in the journal Current Biology.

The findings reveal the fine balance between the brain mechanisms that generate the experience of "self" versus "other," and how distorting such mechanisms could lead to strange experiences, the researchers said.

The ghost in the brain

The robot experiment in healthy people is similar to the sensations of some patients with mental disorders, or of healthy individuals under extreme circumstances, Blanke said. "This confirms that [the feeling that a ghost is nearby] is caused by an altered perception of their own bodies in the brain."

To explore the brain basis of this illusion, the researchers looked at the brain lesions of 12 patients who had epilepsy or had suffered a stroke. All of the patients had reported experiences in which they felt a person or a shadow was present, right behind them, or in the corner of their eye.

The researchers linked the illusory ghost perception to lesions in three brain regions: the temporoparietal cortex, the insular cortex and the frontoparietal cortex.

The findings could also help researchers understand the roots of symptoms of schizophrenia, the researchers said. These patients' hallucinatory symptoms, such as hearing alien voices and delusions that they are being controlled, could be triggered by an incorrect of integration of senses in the brain, as previous studies have also noted.

Cyber-Roach! Mic-Equipped Bugs Could Aid Disaster Rescue

Remote-controlled cyborg cockroaches could one day be among the first responders at disaster scenes to help locate survivors.

A team of researchers at North Carolina State University has created a swarm of cyborg cockroaches, nicknamed "biobots," that are equipped with microphones to pick up sounds and trace them to their sources. The researchers hope the biobots could one day be used in disaster-relief situations to locate survivors.

Each cockroach has a tiny circuit board "backpack" attached to it that researchers can use to control the bug's movement. Some of the biobots have a single microphone that can capture sounds at a disaster scene and send them back to personnel. Others have a series of microphones that can pinpoint the source of a sound and then steer the bug toward it.

"The goal is to use the biobots with high-resolution microphones to differentiate between sounds that matter — like people calling for help — and sounds that don't matter — like a leaking pipe," Alder Bozkurt, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at North Carolina State University who worked on the project, said in a statement. "Once we've identified sounds that matter, we can use the biobots equipped with microphone arrays to zero in on where those sounds are coming from."

The researchers have already used the cockroach army to map disaster areas, but are now testing to see if the biobots could help find survivors.

Bozkurt and the team have also developed an invisible "fence" designed to keep the biobots within the boundaries of the disaster site. The fence is made of a series of sensors that redirect the cockroaches when they get too close. It also helps the biobots stick close together so they can maintain wireless communication with each other.

Early tests in the lab went well, the researchers said, but field testing is still needed to see how effective the bugs would be at a real disaster scene.

The idea of turning cockroaches into remote-controlled robots is not new. One company even sells DIY "RoboRoach" kits that enable people to create their own smartphone-controlled cockroaches. The assembler must first glue a backpack circuit board onto the roach's shell and then trim the roach's antennae and stick small electrodes in them that connect to the circuit.

But this kind of technology has stirred up an ethics debate. Allowing people, especially untrained individuals, to attach the backpacks and electrodes to the cockroaches has raised concerns about animal cruelty among some advocates and experts.

But when it comes to navigating disaster scenes, the cyborg roaches do have benefits.

"Insect biobots, with a natural ability to crawl through small spaces, offer unique advantages over traditional synthetic robots," the researchers wrote in a paper detailing the experiment.

The research was presented Nov. 5 at the IEEE Sensors conference in Valencia, Spain.

European Spacecraft Could Find 70,000 New Alien Worlds

A European spacecraft that launched late last year could eventually discover 70,000 exoplanets, helping researchers better understand the number and characteristics of alien worlds throughout the galaxy, a new study reports.

The European Space Agency's star-monitoring Gaia mission, which launched in December 2013, should find about 21,000 alien planets over the course of its five-year mission and perhaps 70,000 distant worlds if it keeps operating for 10 years, the study found.

"It’s not just about the numbers. Each of these planets will be conveying some very specific details, and many will be highly interesting in their own way," lead author Michael Perryman of Princeton University said in a statement. "If you look at the planets that have been discovered until now, they occupy very specific regions of discovery space. Gaia will not only discover a whole list of planets, but in an area that has not been thoroughly explored so far."

The first alien world around a sunlike star was spotted in 1995. Since then, astronomers have found nearly 2,000 exoplanets, with more than half of the discoveries made by NASA's Kepler space telescope.

But there are many more out there, waiting to be discovered. Astronomers think that, on average, every star in the Milky Way hosts at least one planet, meaning the galaxy probably teems with more than 100 billion alien worlds.

The $1 billion Gaia mission operates from a gravitationally stable spot 930,000 miles (1.5 million kilometers) from Earth called the Earth-Sun Lagrange Point 2. The spacecraft's main goal is to catalog and closely monitor 1 billion Milky Way stars, helping researchers create a detailed 3D map that should shed light on the galaxy's structure and evolution.

But Gaia's precise tracking work should also reveal the presence of many alien planets by noting how their gravity tugs the stars slightly this way and that, researchers say. 

Perryman and his colleagues wanted to get a better idea of just how many alien worlds Gaia could be expected to find. They arrived at their estimates after integrating a number of sources of information, including a comprehensive model of Milky Way star and planet positions, the latest exoplanet-distribution data (much of it from Kepler) and details of Gaia's measurement capabilities, researchers said.

"Our assessment will help prepare exoplanet researchers for what to expect from Gaia," Perryman said. "We’re going to be adding potentially 20,000 new planets in a completely new area of discovery space. It’s anyone’s guess how the field will develop as a result."

The new study has been accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal and is available now on the preprint site arXiv.

MICROSOFT OFFICE SUITE IS NOW FREE FOR IPHONE, IPAD AND ANDROID

Microsoft has announced releasing its Office apps for iPad, iPhone and Android – a move considered to be a major shift in strategy for the company. This allows users, even those who don't have subscribed to Office 365, to create and edit documents in Word, Excel and Powerpoint for free.

Microsoft has rolled out free version of Office for iPhone and iPad, while a preview version has been launched for Android. Full release of the Android version is expected in 2015. Microsoft, however, is keeping some premium features for Office 365 subscribers such as unlimited OneDrive storage and Dropbox integration.

“Anytime someone has an idea or an inspiration, we want to empower them to take action,” says John Case, corporate vice president, Office, Microsoft. “With over a billion Office customers worldwide, and over 40 million downloads on the iPad, it’s clear that Office applications are what people want to use to get things done.”

As said above, Microsoft's latest move is a major shift in strategy, though not very surprising. The company had already hinted at extending its services on other platforms after launching Office for iPad. It had also allowed users with Office 365 subscription to edit and create new documents.

Microsoft is already bearing the brunt of depleting laptops and desktop computers across the world. Meanwhile, rival Google has been working consistently to improve its productivity suite for mobile phones.

That said, Microsoft is taking a huge risk by making Office free for use. A New York Times report says Office has contributed nearly a third of Microsoft’s revenue during its last fiscal year — approximately $26 billion of $87 billion in total. Microsoft will not heavily depend on adoption of Office on laptops and desktops, and enterprise customers. Moreover, it will have to come up with more new and exclusive features on the apps only accessible to premium customers.

Source: Microsoft

XIAOMI MAKING GOPRO CAMERA RIVAL, MAY LAUNCH IN 2014

Chinese manufacturer Xiaomi is working on an action camera to rival the GoPro action cam and may come out with it soon. A Chinese news website broke the news a few days back that Xiaomi is working with a Shanghai based company to make the action cam.

New information received by the website reveals that the Xiaomi action cam will be priced somewhat around Yuan 999 (Rs. 9,990) and could hit the market before the end of this year. The equivalent GoPro cam costs about $500 (Rs. 36,000), thus making the yet to announced Xiaomi action cam a muchn interesting prospect.

It is rumored that the Xiaomi action cam will be able to take 4K videos upto 30fps or 1080p videos at 120fps. The camera will support microSD cards and will support upto 128GB of memory. As for the camera lens, there's no information yet except that it will have a 138 degree wide angle lens.

Source: gizchina

GUVERA, ONLINE MUSIC STREAMING SERVICE, LAUNCHED IN INDIA

Australia-based music streaming service Guvera announced the launch of its popular music streaming mobile and web app in Mumbai today. The mobile application is slated to feature free and unlimited access to local Bollywood as well as international music, and is now available for download on Android and iOS.

Developed in 2008 in response to the mass consumption of illegal music online, Guvera provides consumers with a free and legal way to access music whilst giving royalties to the artists and record labels responsible for producing it.

At the launch Claes Loberg, Founder and Director of Innovation for Guvera, gave an example of how the company works closely with advertisers to create unique engagement opportunities that go beyond simple banner ads. One such example is the introduction of branded channels. So for example Bose can have a channel that streams music that goes in line with their brand identity. Or Nikon could have tracks by Priyanka Chopra, the camera manufacturer’s brand ambassador. Loberg explains, “Branded channels are a great example of how users are able to engage with brands in a less disruptive manner. Advertisers know that they are paying for ads that consumers want. We believe that Guvera is a platform for advertisers and brands to connect with a significant database of users, made possible with the help of Guvera’s innovative content-targeting algorithm.”

The service lets listeners play and explore music through #hashtags and based on their current mood, activity or preferences. Consumers can also search and discover music, as well as manage and share their own playlists. There is also social integration that allows users to follow friends and celebrities on Guvera, and access their playlists. While most of the music does get streamed in this fashion, if you are looking for specific on-demand tracks you may be prompted to go for the premium subscription which is priced at Rs. 199 per month. 

Instead of relying totally on recommendation algorithms Guvera depends more on human curated playlists for music discovery. Commenting on the eve of launch, Mr. Claes Loberg, Founder and Director of Innovation for Guvera, said, “We are both proud and excited to be the first-of-its-kind international music streaming offering to enter India; a market that is truly diverse in terms of its taste for music. Guvera provides its users with an unmatched user-friendly experience. We plan to provide our Indian users with the best expert-curated local and international content – all they have to do is hit the ‘play’ button.”

Guvera has entered into tie-ups with major music labels and content aggregators in India, including Sony Music, Hungama.com (T-Series & Speed Records), Universal, Saregama, Eros International, Times Music, Believe, Orchard, TuneCore, CDBaby and INGrooves.

Journalists at the event were given a one month trial membership to Guvera Platinum so you can expect a full review soon.

APPLE'S NEXT IPHONE MAY FEATURE 3D DISPLAY: REPORT

Apple's next smartphone (iPhone 6s) may feature a glasses-free 3D display, according to a report in a Taiwanese media website. The report adds that Apple is aiming to create a 3D "hardware and software ecosystem."

The report states that Apple is working on a new 3D display, that is not supported by the in-cell technology used in current iPhone screens. In September, Apple had received a patent that supports the use of holograms on an iPhone display while using multi-touch. Apple also purchased PrimeSense last year which created the 3D motion-sensing technology behind Microsoft's Kinect accessory for Xbox.

Apart from Apple, other electronics giants have also launched smartphones with 3D displays, HTC had launched the EVO 3D smartphone with glasses-free 3D images and LG had launched the Optimus 3D in 2011. The smartphones didn't only have 3D displays, but allowed users to view YouTube videos in 3D as well as click 3D pictures.

Earlier this year, Amazon had also launched Fire Phone with a 3D display, which had front-facing cameras that created a glasses-free 3D holographic effect for the user. Internet giant Google has also announced Project Tango research project which aims to bring 3D technology to smartphones.

Google stated that the prototype smartphone is equipped with a collection of chips, cameras and sensors that create a three-dimensional map of user's surroundings. The company stated that the tech applications could include indoor navigation for the blind and more immersive videogames. 

Source: GforGames, UDN.com

UW STUDY SHOWS BRAIN-TO-BRAIN INTERFACE BETWEEN HUMANS

Researchers at the University of Washington were able to successfully replicate a direct brain-to-brain connection between pairs of people as part of a scientific study.

Researchers were able to transmit the signals from one person’s brain over the Internet and use these signals to control the hand motions of another person within a split second of sending that signal. The study was conducted over six people divided into three pairs: one receiver and one transmitter.

The receivers, wear a swimming cap with a coil placed on top of the part of their heads where the brain controls hand movements. Theirs fingers are poised on top of a touchpad that controls the cannons, but they cant see the game. The researchers found that the receivers would act within a split second of the transmitters sending a signal. The teams accuracy varied between 25 and 83 percent, the researchers state that the delay in launching cannons was mostly the transmitters fault for not executing the accurate thought that triggers response in their partners.

The transmitters are hooked to an EEG machine to read brain waves and are asked to sit in front of a video game. In the game they have to defend a city by firing cannons, however the transmitters could only transmit their thoughts via the internet to their partners seated somewhere across the campus who have a touchpad that controls the cannons.

The team had published similar findings an year back is which they demonstrated two human brains communicating in this way. “The new study brings our brain-to-brain interfacing paradigm from an initial demonstration to something that is closer to a deliverable technology,” said co-author Andrea Stocco, a research assistant professor of psychology and a researcher at UW’s Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences. “Now we have replicated our methods and know that they can work reliably with walk-in participants.”

The team of researchers have secured $1 million in funding and plans to conduct tougher experiments, involving the transmission of more complicated thoughts and ideas between two people. The team is planning to develop a method to directly transfer knowledge from one brain to another. "Imagine someone who's a brilliant scientist but not a brilliant teacher," said one of the researchers, Chantel Prat. "Complex knowledge is hard to explain -- we're limited by language."

Source: Washington.Edu