Wednesday, March 26, 2014

WhatsApp has 480 million users


WhatsApp

According to a report by the news magazine Focus in the online edition of 23 March 2014, the short messaging service WhatsApp has become one of world's 480 million users. Monthly average of 15 million new users would be won and even though WhatsApp was taken in February of Facebook. In February, the provider in Germany rose by 1 million to increase its user base significantly to 30 million users.

Opposite Focus reported the WhatsApp-founder January Koum that his service for the user is to be attractive and this might be the announced telephone function make an important contribution. The call function to allow it to users via VoIP for free to be able to call each other. In Germany WhatsApp works to implement its mobile offering with E-Plus together.There should be a special prepaid card that has a WhatsApp option and where all sent messages, pictures and videos are not intended to affect the free volume of the prepaid tariff. The acquisition by Facebook cost 19 billion U.S. dollars and was one of the most expensive acquisitions to date of the social network.

Saturday, March 22, 2014

A touch pad holographic display

Soon, we can interact with a terminal via a holographic display . Finish the touch screen, instead, the tablet directly displays the data in the air through a holographic screen as interface.
The prototype was called AIRR Tablet for "Aerial Imaging by Retro-Reflection." The touch pad of a new genus is distinguished by its floating display. Allowing the user to manipulate and access to various applications. No need to use glasses virtual complete, the system is based on the retro-reflection to float interface and project information in the air. The tactile feedback is provided by sensors integrated movements, which can take up to 500 images per second. Touch holographic screen thus results in a specific order. Similarly, the user can enlarge or reduce the size via a simple gesture. This tablet was designed and developed by Professor Hirotsugu Yamamoto , University of Tokushima, Japan. At the moment, it is only a prototype that foreshadows the future of touch devices.


AIRR Tablet

This chip lets you know when food is expired


If refer to one's usual expiration date printed on the packaging of our products, Chinese researchers have found a way to do things differently in order to check the status of our food.Thanks to nanotechnology, they managed to create a chip that can notify the consumer when a product is damaged. invention that the team of the must Peking University , led by Professor Chao Zhang. This is a tag to be bonded to the packaging of a food package or a medicament. Hardly bigger than a grain of rice, each chip is made ​​from gold nanorods and silver. To control the "consumability" of a food, the small device uses a color code to inform the consumer. Thus, it is red when the content is fresh. It then turns to orange to yellow according to the degradation of the food. Once the green , it indicates that it is outdated . In addition to considering the expiry date of the product, the process is also based on the potential damage caused by the change in ambient temperature. At the prototype stage, this tag feed controller was tested on milk exposed to different temperatures. For now, the process has been patented in China and its designers hope to find a way to make it accessible to a wider public more.






















Tag for food

Thursday, March 20, 2014

MIT develops a lifelike robotic fish


Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have recently created a "fish" from soft robotics. Away from rigid metal models, their latest is more soft and supple. A PLC can swim like a fish in water. Based on biomimicry , this robotic fish is able to mimic the movement and mode of movement of its animal counterpart. A prototype is manufactured from silicon 3D printed, so he can to move with fluidity and to withstand shocks and collisions with other here. Fullyautonomous , synthetic fish is provided with a shank comprising two sections. In addition to making quick movements, it has more freedom in his movements. Finally, it uses carbon dioxide to "breathe" in the water. Currently, this robotic fish has been developed for experimental purposes.Besides, the prototype is capable of between 20-30 maneuvers based on reserves of carbon dioxide. Later, it could be used to better study these aquatic animals in their natural environment.

MIT robotic fish

A robot wrote an article for the Los Angeles Times

A robot write an article

The city of Los Angeles recently experienced a 4.4 magnitude earthquake . Southern California had not experienced such an earthquake since 2008, but the new fact, the article was dedicated to him was written not by a human but by a powerful algorithm . Quakebot , as it is called is in fact an algorithm capable of analyzing a series of information and write an article. Once the paper is realized, it could be posted within 3 minutes by journalist Ken Schwencke, who signed his name.The reason? Man is also the developer of the program in question, on which he board for two years. Some wonder if in the future, we can totally do without writers to write news. It should however be noted that, once posted, the original article has been amended 71 times Quakebot and Team Los Angeles Times , which brought them moult additions and corrections.In addition, the article is intended solely for information (a kind of AFP, in fact.) This is not the first article written in this way, since Ken Schwencke and other developers officiate recent years on other models algorithms, which are able to write articles on sporting events or murder. They mainly used to ensure no common measure reactivity, since this kind of paper is ready to be put online within a few minutes after the fact.

Morpheus project helmet augmented reality PS4


Sony took the Game Developers Conference 2014 (GDC) to present the Morpheus Project , vision augmented to its PlayStation range. reality Under this code name, we discover what appears to Oculus Rift for PS4 . Only compatible with the next generation console from Sony, it sports a slick, streamlined design: a black box to position before the eyes and a white headband to hold it in place on the wearer. Its design has been thought for prolonged use. Thus, Anton Mikhailov, an engineer at Sony, said that "the majority of the weight rests on the head and not on the nose, allowing the helmet to wear for a long time. "

Full HD and 3D

Inside the beast, the Japanese manufacturer has installed an LCD screen 5 inches with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels or 960 x 1080 pixels for each eye, for a full HD rendering. The maximum viewing angle is 90 ° . The audio portion is filled by a 3D system, a multichannel technology Sony can change the sound depending on the direction of the player's head. This headset also features an accelerometer and a gyroscope to reproduce as faithfully as possible the movements of the player. Add that motion detection is closely related to the camera in the PS4 , single repository for Morpheus. This is not the only wire that Sony has the leg. In order to function, the augmented reality headset must be connected by a cable to the PlayStation 4. Although still in the prototype stage, "is representative of the final product," said the Japanese automaker. Presented to stand at GDC, Morpheus is demonstrated on a few games, including Eve Online, Eve Valkyrie , the last episode of Thief or The Castle, a Sony game also making use PS Move. Regarding the release date or price Morpheus, Sony did not want to dwell on these subjects. He simply said that the prototype was being refined and several studios had already test to begin their game development to come. Purchase PlayStation 4

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Internet is 25 years old

Internet

The Internet celebrates its 25th anniversary at March 13, 2014. The foundations for today's World Wide Web (WWW) put the British computer expert Tim Berners-Lee while he had designed an information network, which consisted of databases, computers and networks. As a tool he used the HTML programming language with which it was first possible to reproduce images, videos and sounds texts on the Internet.


The first arose simple web pages and the WWW won with the increasing number of broadband access increasingly important. Today more than 1 billion people worldwide have access to the Internet and the other almost 7 billion people are also to be connected with new technologies to the World Wide Web. The World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee sees the anonymity in the network as a complicated subject.

All users have a right to remain anonymous, whether it according to Berners-Lee was a whistleblower or a normal user.Today's global village is distinguished above all by its multimedia content, which are reflected in the use of video portals, online gaming, video on demand, Internet telephony and other Web 2.0 applications.