Google conversational search

Now search results on Google are more interactive. You can talk to it like it was a person, ask your query and it will reply you the answer – verbally! Google supplemented its conversational search ability to its Chrome browser, which is now LIVE.

Google voice search has been accessible since long, which allows users to search queries just by speaking; this conversational update lets your PC or laptop to speak back to you. For instance, if you ask, “What is the population of India?” Chrome browser will articulate, “The population of India is 1.241 Billion in 2011”.

You can access it by clicking the microphone button on your chrome browser and asking your question in plain English. Once Google search is completed, it will display you a list of results or a single card at the top of the screen with an appeasing female voice answering your query.

The best part of it is the responsiveness of the context. You can refine your search results by further conversation with Google. You’ll need Chrome 27 to access conversational search — you can either update from within the browser as usual, or download it fresh from Google’s website.

If you’ve enabled the Gmail Field Trial for Google Search, which grants search access to data on your other Google services, you can also ask questions about your schedule. Conversational search also knows your location, so simply asking “What’s the weather tomorrow?” pulls up your local forecast.

You are at liberty to turn off this feature in Google settings. There isn’t a way to change the sound of the voice, this attribute works only in English. It misses out the more comprehensive ‘Google Now’ integration – predictive search is lacking.

Will it be the next big thing?

Mozilla - Samsung 'SERVO' browser

Mozilla’s mission to take advantage of tomorrow’s faster, multi-core, heterogeneous computing architectures has recently begun collaborating with Samsung on an advanced technology Web browser engine called 'Servo', that takes advantage of ARM architecture.

Servo is an attempt to rebuild the Web browser that can fully utilize the performance of tomorrow’s massively parallel hardware to enable new and richer experiences on the Web. Servo is written in Rust, a new, safe systems programming language developed by Mozilla. This language in itself is in early stages of development. Its version 0.6 was released recently.

Commenting on Rust, Eichneed notes, "It is intended to fill many of the same niches that C++ has over the past decades, with efficient high-level, multi-paradigm abstractions, and offers precise control over hardware resources. But beyond that, it is *safe by default*, preventing entire classes of memory management errors that lead to crashes and security vulnerabilities. Rust also features lightweight concurrency primitives that make it easy for programmers to leverage the power of the many CPU cores available on current and future computing platforms."

Samsung has launched Chromebook based on ARM architecture in the past. There are a few known challenges for the ARM architecture; however browser has so far not been cited as a challenge so far. So it is really difficult to reason why Samsung has decided to partner with Mozilla for this project.

Mozilla also on its part is preparing to launch Firefox-based smartphones. Firefox OS-based ZTE Open was unveiled at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2013. Apart from ZTE, even LG, Huawei and Sony have expressed their interest in launching smartphones based on Firefox operating system. Therefore, we are curious to know why Mozilla in investing its resources in a second browser at this junction.

Recyclable Solar Cells

Georgia Institute of Technology and Purdue University researchers have developed efficient solar cells using natural substrates derived from plants such as trees.
Added advantage, the researchers have managed to recycle them in water by fabricating them on cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) substrates, thus minimizing e-waste.

The organic solar cells reach a power conversion efficiency of 2.7 per cent. The CNC substrates on which the solar cells are fabricated are optically transparent, enabling light to pass through them before being absorbed by a very thin layer of an organic semiconductor. 

During the recycling process, the solar cells are simply immersed in water at room temperature. Within only minutes, the CNC substrate dissolves and the solar cell can be separated easily into its major components

To date, organic solar cells have been typically fabricated on glass or plastic. Neither is easily recyclable, and petroleum-based substrates are not very eco-friendly. 

“Our next steps will be to work toward improving the power conversion efficiency over 10 percent, levels similar to solar cells fabricated on glass or petroleum-based substrates, by optimising the optical properties of the solar cell’s electrode” said Kippelen, an Engineering Professor.

Free Wifi on Rajdhani trains

The Railway ministry had shared its plans to include Wi-Fi services for free on selected trains during its Rail Budget announcement earlier this year. Mr. Pawan Kumar Bansal seems to be serious in this regard. The initiative to kick-start the venture is in place.

Mr. Pawan Bansal launching the Wifi service

Free Wi-Fi service on the New Delhi- Howrah Rajdhani Express train has been reportedly launched.

According to a Business Line report, the Wi-Fi service of 4 Mbps is being provided to the passengers which enabled them to browse the Internet, check emails, chat or use YouTube or check their Facebook accounts, during their journey. They are required to share their mobile number or their PNR number to receive a password through SMS, which will give them access to the Wi-Fi.

The Ministry plans to offer free Wi-Fi services on 50 other trains by the end of this year, which will include the Rajdhani's, the Shatabdi's and the Duronto express trains among others.
 

Hackers spreading Android malware

                          Android users BEWARE!!


"Chinese government hackers see every computer and smartphones in the world as their targets", a new research says. 

According to Forbes, the report shows that Tibetan activists are being targeted with sophisticated malware designed to infect Android phones, allowing the malware’s operator to steal the user’s contacts and messages, and track his or her location.

Citizen Lab, a group of information security researchers at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto and Kaspersky Labs  cited an example a few weeks back. To pinpoint a target’s location, data retrieved by the malware is designed to be combined with cell tower data from a telecommunications company. Ron Deibert, director, Citizen Lab says it is a strong hint and indicates that the malware was written by the Chinese government.

Deibert further added, “There is only one kind of organization for whom this information is useful. And we know that the Chinese have a very strong interest in tracking Tibetans, so it’s a strong set of circumstantial evidence.”

One of the contacts, a Tibetan activist, was observed to be sent a tweaked version of Kakao Talk, which is a mobile messaging app for Android. It was sent via an e-mail that appeared to be coming from an authentic contact. “The app was designed to periodically bundle the user’s contacts and text message history in a file called “info.txt” that was sent to a remote server masquerading as Baidu, the most popular Chinese search engine. And when the malware’s operator sent a certain code to the infected phone via text message, it was designed to hide that message and invisibly respond with information related to the mobile network and cell tower to which the user was connecting, data that could be combined with a database of cell tower locations maintained by a cellular carrier to pinpoint a phone’s location,” Verge reported.

3D printing

Ever imagined building your house using a printer. Or designing your own wedding gown using a printer. Well keep your picturesque ready as the 'Third Revolution' has arrived.

Time for some 3D Printing!!

3D printing is a process of making a three-dimensional solid object of virtually any shape from a digital model. 3D printing, where successive layers of material are laid down in different shapes. It mostly relies on the removal of material by methods such as cutting or drilling.
#Wikipedia 

 
Virtual blueprints from computer aided design (CAD) and "slices" them into digital cross-sections for the machine to successively use as a guideline for printing. Depending on the machine used, material or a binding material is deposited on the build bed or platform until material/binder layering is complete and the final 3D model has been "printed." It is a WYSIWYG process where the virtual model and the physical model are almost identical.



To perform a print, the machine reads the design from an .stl file and lays down successive layers of liquid, powder, paper or sheet material to build the model from a series of cross sections. These layers, which correspond to the virtual cross sections from the CAD model, are joined together or automatically fused to create the final shape. Imagine a multi-layer cake, with the baker laying down each layer one at a time until the entire cake is formed.


There are a variety of very different types of 3D printing technologies, but they all share one core thing in common: they create a three dimensional object creating it layer by successive layer, until the entire object is complete.

Queen of Burlesque shows off world’s first fully-articulated 3D printed gown

Queen of Burlesque with her 3D gown

 

Shapeways wowed fashionistas at the Ace Hotel in New York with a 3D printed gown that was worn by none other than queen of burlesque Dita Von Teese. The gown, designed by Michael Schmidt and 3D modeled by architect Francis Bitonti, is fully articulated based upon the Fibonacci Sequence, printed in 17 nylon pieces by Shapeways, and then painted black and adorned with 13,000 Swarovski crystals. 

 

 

 

 

 Further research is going on to manufacture space suits using 3D printing technology as the present suits are found to be harmful for human skin if used for a longer duration. A couple of years down the lane you can have your own wardrobe collection designed and printed in your own house.

 

3D printing will make renewable energy more accessible

Technology will enable Photovoltaic cells printing at the molecular level. Research-level photovoltaic efficiencies have surpassed 40%, which is better than that of your car and nuclear power plants.
 printing a steam engine, and solar energy can produce steam without the need of photovoltaic via employing magnification or concentration.

Efficiency will be printed into buildings

Due to less materials being used in construction, greater uniformity in materials used, higher consistency of quality execution, and more control over design, future buildings will be markedly more efficient than the drafty boxes we currently call homes. Solar heaters and coolers can be incorporated right into the roof and walls, as well as other renewable energy catchers like wind turbines and geothermal heat pumps.

                        
                                  World's first 3D Printed house in Netherlands

Walls printed in one material will be more efficient than the concrete, wood, fiberglass, and plaster we sandwich together now because they’ll be seamless, multiporous, and of complex geometries specially designed to keep the weather outside.

 3D printing promotes recycling, upcycling, and repairing

The recycling of plastic piles into new objects has the potential of having an even greater positive effect on the sustainability of 3D printing, because no longer will bad prints and support materials be considered waste.
If you’re not familiar with upcycling, it’s the repurposing of what might have been discarded and/or the improving upon what still functions, and 3D printing is already making an impact here. 

3D printing will enable major efficiency gains in food production

You may not like that a lot of our food is genetically modified, but it is. The future will likely follow a similar trend as it relates to printing food. Modern Meadow aims to print meat from real animal tissue grown in labs to avoid mass raising, slaughter, and transport of livestock. Raising livestock is one of the most pollution-creating industries due to the large amounts of feed, water, and space required, as well as the excessive amounts of methane and sewage produced. You may not feel comfortable eating printed meat but there’s a good chance that your grandchildren will find it commonplace.

 

 

 

UltraPixel

HTC One boasts about its new fancy 'UltraPixel Camera'. It claims the camera as an end to the Megapixels war. This technology sounds very promising. UltraPixels! 

Halt! Wait a second! What is 'UltraPixel' anyway?


The pixels in an UltraPixel sensor are bigger than the pixels in other competing cameras. That's how the name goes as 'UltraPixel'.

Image sensors are covered in photo diodes that convert light into electricity, which is processed and recorded as data. Each pixel in your photo represents one photosite on the sensor. When you take a picture, the camera's shutter flies open for a fraction of a second letting photons pour in. Bigger photosites can capture more photons, and thus, capture more data. The difference is especially pronounced in conditions where the light is too dim.

Bigger pixels on an identical surface means fewer pixels. Both the HTC One and Lumia 920 have a 1/3-inch sensor, but Lumia 920 has 8.7-megapixels compared to the HTC One's 4MP. That's why the HTC One has larger 2-micrometers pixels whereas the Lumia 920 only has 1.4-micrometer pixels. 

 More data means more quality. You need enough pixels that you can view the image at a reasonable size on screens. Think about how ridiculous a 100 x 100 image would look on the HTC One's 1920 x 1080 screen. But then again, most cameras output photos way larger than what most people will ever need. The 4-megapixel camera on the HTC One outputs 2688 x 1520 images, and that's really dangerously small if you want to zoom to 500% (A 500% zoom will crack your image) or crop or edit your images. At the end of the day all you're doing is uploading photos to Facebook and Instagram anyway, right?

(The Hubble is 0.8 megapixels and its image sensor is HUGE. The Mars Rovers (Curiosity and Spirit) are only 1 megapixel each, yet can fill an IMAX screen.) 


The resolution of a camera's image sensor is only one of many factors that affect image quality. The lens, image processor, auto-focus and metering all have to work well, too. 

We'll have to wait and see how the rest of the camera's technology performs before we declare it as the KING!