The Cybermen are coming

If you are a fan at all of the UK television series Dr Who you will be intimately familiar with the deadly threat to peace in the universe that is posed by the Cybermen. The Cybermen are a race of cyborgs who began as humanoids but began to implant an increasing array of artificial parts into their bodies, ultimately deleting their own emotions as an essential act of self-preservation. It may be a bit of a leap to say that the development of a robotic printer by Fuji Xerox is a step along the slippery slope of becoming Cybermen, but you can never be too careful. Actually, on the face of it, the robotic printer that has been developed by Fuji Xerox looks really cool.

How does it work? 

The printer comes to you - it’s as simple as that. This is particularly important for printing that you are doing that might be sensitive documents or contain commercially sensitive information. Of course the idea of secure printing isn’t a new one - there are already lots of different ways in which secure printing can be managed - but Fuji Xerox (the joint venture partnership between these two giants in the world of printing) have come up with the first printer that comes to you, the robotic printer and that’s fairly exciting. An example of how it would work would be if you were working in a shared business centre such as in a hotel or an airline lounge. Each desk is allocated a unique printing identity. When the user gives the print command, the printer then moves to that desk (using its sensors to avoid bumping into anything on the way), the user then presents a smart card to the Fuji Xerox printer that confirms their identity and the documents are printed out and readied for collection.

The obesity trap

Remember on the movie Wall-E when all the humans got so fat that they couldn’t really walk any more and just floated around while the robots did all the work? We need to heed that warning. If robotic printers are now bringing our printing to us at our desk, that is one less reason for us to get up out of our desks, that is one less reason for us to do some exercise. Do not give up that gym membership - the minute that we become too fat to walk is the minute that the robots take control.

Does anyone still print? 

You might be wondering what the big deal about printing is anyway - with the move to online storage, and electronic everything, gone are the days when we needed enormous piles of paper on our desk to prove that we we were being productive. It may feel a bit antiquated, but there are still things that need to be signed and often these are the most important and sensitive documents which makes secure printing more of a priority today than ever before.

Robotic printer. Definitely a step forward. Definitely a step towards the future. Not necessarily a step towards us all becoming Cybermen.

Samsung’s New Note

Samsung on 3rd September, 2014 has announced a big-screen phone known as Galaxy Note 4. And it’s even got a companion with the release of Galaxy Note Edge and Gear VR at a media event, ahead of IFA 2014 tech expo in Berlin. Samsung is known for the updating of its existing devices or products and has been proving to do so since many years. Once again it has proved that they are not the loser’s to stay behind and has launched a big screen phone rather we can say it has a Phablet, a week before Apple announced its big screen phone. From this to release, it is proved that Samsung is now more interested to manage the note line that has gained much popularity among the users. So let’s see what’s new with this Phablet.

Features 

This new Phablet comes with same 5.7 inch display size as that in note 3. But have successfully updated the display resolution from HD to quad HD. Most of you might think that this high resolution will consume large amount of charge but as per Samsung, they say that despite of this QHD resolution, Note 4 will deliver 7.5% more battery life due to an optimized interface.

Now when we are talking about battery let’s see what more it comes with. It comes with 3,220mAh battery, 20mAh more when compared to Note 3. The phone can be charged from 0-50% within half an hour due to the fast charging technology included in it.

Well. Depending upon the market, Note 4 comes with quad core or octa-core processor. For an Indian market, it comes with octa core processor and an international one has a 2.7GHz quad-core Snapdragon 805 processor. At present, this quad-core processor is the most powerful in the world.

In today’s world, most of the people desire to have more storage capacity in their phone. Well, this might be a drawback for those as it comes only with 3GB of RAM but is expected to push the memory to 4GB. It gives storage option up to 32GB. There’s also a microSD slot to expand the memory up to 64GB.

It comes with high camera pixel. Rare camera has a 16MP resolution. Users can even enjoy the famous trend of selfie with this handset as it comes with 3.7MP front camera which allows taking wide angle selfies.

Software

Coming to the software side, note 4 uses an interface similar to that in Galaxy S5, i.e. Android 4.4.4 Kitkat. To make use of S Pen stylus, additional software too is optimized in it. Multitasking feature is improved when compared to its previous note.

Besides this, the most interesting thing that this note 4 comes with, which is not available in Note 3 is fingerprint sensor that is embedded in the home key along with a heart rate monitor on the back of the handset.

Conclusion

This is really an outstanding and amazing phone released to compete its competitor and hope will be accepted by everyone as it comes with all new technology as per the present world.

Google Begins Quantum Computing Research Project in Collaboration With NASA and USRA

Google, web search giant now is aim to crack the code of the next level in computer evolution. When compared to traditional computers, the quantum computers are considered as the Holy Grail of computing.

This will remove all the errors from the current traditional computing systems. According to Google Inc, the company will be joined by a research team headed by John Martinis (Physicist from University of California Santa Barbara), which will be working on building the superconducting electronics based new quantum information processors. This Quantum Artificial Intelligence Lab is partnership between NASA, USRA and Google. The aim of the lab is to study the application of quantum optimization in relation with the artificial intelligence.

The Quantum AI team will be able to test and implement the new designs that have been developed for quantum optimization and inference processor with an integrated hardware group. These designs are based on the theoretical insights and learning’s inspired from the D-Wave quantum annealing architecture.

John Martinis who is professor at University of California, Santa Barbara, is one of the most prominent known names in the researchers who have given immense contribution towards the researchers in the field of Artificial Intelligence. Google is working on quantum chips as they have the vision that one day these chips will make the machines perform like humans.

The designed Chips that will be able to work at sub-atomic levels in such a way; that they will be able to make the existing processors even faster.

As per the experts, the quantum bit will be having two different states at the same time. They will be able to improve the power and speed of computing today. Standard computer deals with binary data which is expressed normally in zero and ones. However the quantum computing will be encoding the data by using the sub-atomic particle behaviour.

Google has become focused on artificial intelligence past couple of years and also working on self driving cars projects and robots projects. Google has acquired artificial intelligence company DeepMind Technologies Ltd in January 2014. Even though the DeepMind Technologies Ltd Company has unable to produce any commercial product, they have been paid £242 million ($399 million) for their proficiency in the field of Artificial Intelligence.

This company has the aim of making computers think like humans. According to another founder in the company, Shane Leg, had warned that the artificial intelligence is the number one risk in the current century and might even lead to the extinction of the human race. In a recent interview he stated that one day human race has to extinct and the artificial intelligence will be the most prominent contributor towards this.

Google has ensured that an ethics board is overseeing all the processes under Artificial Intelligence.

Microsoft Distributed First Prerelease Versions of Windows 9

Microsoft will announce the new Operating System code named “Threshold” on a special press conference on 30th September according to the sources. But the close partners of the company already received the preliminary version of the OS and it is well protected against leaks and the preliminary version is yet to have more features according to the sources.

Until now Microsoft never communicated the official name for OS Threshold but the terminology Windows 9 seems more logical and it was accidently disclosed by the Microsoft’s counterpart in China. Windows 9 will have the start menu again which was originally indented to return with the update of the previous version; hence the user may expect substantial changes in the OS.

According to the experts; the tool bar or the Charms bar may vanish and the features of the menu will be built directly into the windows application of Modern UI interface. Another novelty expected is the introduction of virtual desktops that allow users to run their applications in different areas while maintaining a unified view. Windows 9; The Microsoft’s next generation of Windows is on a strict separation of modern user interface (UI Modern) and classic desktop interface hence the PC users who feared for windows 9 with tile screen may breathe freely.

The desktop and Note book users who operate mostly with Mouse and Key board will be more benefited and they can operate freely without tiles and where as the Tablet users has to satisfy with the Modern UI interface. According to Neowin, the developers have the updated the feature of Windows 9 and vigorously revised so that the existing Windows can be upgrade to a new version with only one button click is possible.

What features going to happen into the account of the update is unclear. It is conceivable that Microsoft so retrofit the language assistant Cortana. Apparently, Microsoft is currently testing a pre-release version, in which the voice assistant Cortana is integrated, according to Neowin. Cortana is Microsoft's answer to the voice controls which is the competition to Google Now and Siri from Apple.

However, Cortana is probably not an integral part of Windows 9, but an additional application. According to Neowin, the trial version is named "Windows Technical Preview for Enterprise". The final version of the much spoken OS under the code name "Threshold" Windows 9 will follow in early 2015. According to insiders Windows-7 and -8 users will get the free switch over to the new system.


Accordingly, it is expected that Windows 9 under the hood again brings more changes, which unifies the use of the operating system on different device classes. Windows 9 is going to be activated via the Internet and then on the one hand to the Microsoft account of the user and on the other hand bound to the PC.

The coupling with the PC can be overridden, so you can move the system to other computers also. As part of the reports to the Windows 8 successor even see some information appeared to Windows 10. As the successor to Microsoft Windows 9 plane, therefore the first operating system that runs entirely in the cloud. Instead, the operating system to be installed on the local hard disk, the user then grab on "to be" system from any computer with an Internet connection to. As the earliest release date applies 2017.

“Super Normal Hearing” Through Sonova’s New Microphone

Sonova, a Zurich based company has been able to successfully develop a new microphone which is in the shape of pen and called “Roger”. The name has been derived from terms used for radio communication to indicate receipt of message. It is wireless microphone which has the ability to transmit the voice of the speaker over a 2.2 GHZ frequency to a tiny receiver chip in the hearing aid.


This device has been designed to help the people who have loss of hearing to understand speech. This device is will be able to perform better even when compared to the normal hearing of the people. With the increase in the aging population, the demand of hearing aid is increasing in the industry and companies and manufacturers are trying to implement new technologies to attract more and more customers.

Through this product the company is aiming to retain their position as the market leaders in makers of hearing aid equipments. Company is generating nearly 70% of their revenue from the products which have been launched in the market less than two years ago.

The company has designed the product, which can be either placed on a table to use like microphone or can be hung around a speaker’s neck. It has the ability to enhance speech depending on the surrounding noise like industries, polluted traffic noise, if you are in a vehicle etc.

WHO has already indicated that nearly 5% of the people around the world have problem with hearing. This 5% data accounts for nearly 360 million people out of the world’s population. According to the Sonova’s Science and technology head, Stefan, this hearing aid will be very beneficial if the target of speech is atleast an arm distance away and not very close.

According to the study published by American Journal of Audiology, with the help of “Roger”, at 65 DB noise level, people with hearing loss (moderate or severe) were able to understand the speech much better than the normal hearing people. The sale of the pen has contributed towards the company’s wireless communication business by 19%.

As per Kevin, head of technology at British charity Action on Hearing Loss, even though there are other competitors in the market offering wireless communication products, the sale of roger pen is very discrete as it has a completely different ability of switching between different amplifying sounds coming from all the directions. Due to this rival company like GN Resound has launched their new product LiNX hearing aid through which the user will be able to enjoy music and take calls from their iPhones. They are considering the fact that people will opt for a hearing aid liked with a popular brand rather than simply wearing a hearing aid.

Even though “Roger” pen has its advantages, the inbuilt technology has limitations. At the end nothing can replace the power a brain has with any number of technical equipments and devices.