3D Printers Can Copy Your Loved One's Head - As a Cremation Urn

3D technology has come along a long way from being able to create a 3 dimensional image of the fetus to using the 3D technology in the 3D printers. These printers are being used for a variety of the reasons like printing of shoe burgers to printing the cars according to the requirements of the customer.

The extent or the reach of 3D technology can be felt now when we can easily add the features and the shapes of your loved ones on the cremation urns. It might sound off or may have come as a surprise for many people, but believe it or not, Vermont-based Cremation Solutions are now offering 3D printed cremation urns which hare custom made according to the request. This cremation urn will have the image of the people you love. However, mind you, this imaging is not restricted to the people you love; you can get the image of your favorite celebrity or even Obama, the president of the United States of America.

What difference will it make? 

Vermont-based Cremation Solutions have come up with a unique solution for the people who are looking to honor their loved ones in a unique way and not going through the traditional metal or wooden urns, meant for storing the ashes. According to the information available on the company’s website, they are using the most modern technology to develop the urn, which will have the closest possible resemblance to the deceased one. This will be carried out by using photographs and other facial recognition software’s, which are meant to transform the 2D image into a 3D sculpture and that too with finesse. Adding to this advantage, the company also offers “erase blemishes”, to present your loved ones in the best possible look ever.

Cremation Urn

According to the Company, the urn will come in two different sizes. The first size is 6-inches, meant for storing only a portion of the remains of the deceased, but the second urn comes in a size of 11 inches with the potential of holding all the remains or ashes of a deceased person.

The 6-inch urn has been given the name of keepsake sized personal urn. By this time, we can clearly understand that these urns will not be easy on the pockets. The smallest size of the urn has been priced at $600 while the largest one can go up to $2600. On the downside, the hair of the person has not been included but the company has stated that they can add artificial hair to give the urns a more realistic look.

While it might sound strange, but a 3D printed urn clearly shows the growth in the technology. It has already been said that the world will change due to 3D technology and there will be a rise in business as more companies are focusing on matching the needs of the customers with their service.

The Company has also stated that they are offering the service for not only the deceased ones, but also for a person who can make their own urns as well. People always plan their cremation to take the burden away from their family and nothing will add to their memories than the urn reminding them about you.

Sony’s Experimental E-paper SmartWatch

Rumours have been circulating regarding Sony working on an experimental Smartwatch which uses e-paper as display and e-paper is the same technology used on e-reader screens. Sony has developed this new entry as part of an initiative to experiment with the use of the material for fashion products.

According to Wall Street Journal, the FES Watch, an e-paper watch which appeared online somewhere in September is an offshoot of the Playstation maker and it is said that Sony has kept its involvement a secret to gauge public view instead has used the name Fashion Entertainments to move the product ahead. However, the video is in Japanese but the style of the FES watch is not deniable. The prominent feature of the watch beside the use of e-paper is that of the animation which is not just limited to the screen but the whole strap can be customised.

The tech in the watch is minimal with no real features to talk about rather than telling the time resulting in a battery life which could last up to two months on a single charge. Gadget expert, Stuart Miles from Pocket lint has described the latest device as `retro and cool’. He states that `one of his predictions for the next year is that fashion is going to play a huge part in shaping the tech industry and having a phone which is big and square is one thing but if it is actually worn, it needs to look good’.

Watch Face and Straps - E-paper Display

Compared to the technology used in e-book readers like the amazon’s Kindle, the watch face as well as the straps has an e-paper display which means that the watch can change between various different styles of watch face and strap design. Sony has kept the development of the watch very low and has opted in using a spin-off division known as Fashion Entertainment to work on the device.

According to Wall Street Journal it was reported that to fund the watch’s creation, Fashion Entertainment organised a crowd funding campaign and raised around 3.5 million yen. An anonymous reported informed the newspaper that `they had hidden Sony’s name since they wanted to test the real value of the product and whether there would be demand for the concept’, while a spokeswomen for Sony also confirmed to BBC that Fashion Entertainment is a division of the company’s New Business Creation department and are striving to work on various e-paper prototypes.

Release of FES Watch yet to be Provided 

Other projects which Fashion Entertainments have worked on e-paper include bow-ties, shoes and glass though the only drawback of using e-paper instead of, for instance liquid crystal displays – LCD which is a limitation on possible features due to the limitations of what e-paper could display.

However Mr. Miles states that he did not envision it being so significant a drawback for e-paper technology wearable. He further adds that on looking at traditional watches presently, they only tell the time and the people are happy with it, bringing about awareness that one of the popular smartwatches available in the market, like the Pebble, uses e-paper. The release of the FES Watch has not been provided by Sony yet.

Scientists Predict Green Energy Revolution after Incredible New Graphene Discovery

Graphene – Positively Charged Hydrogen Atoms/Protons

It has been discovered by researchers that graphene enables positively charged hydrogen atoms or proton to pass through it inspite of being completely impermeable to other gases inclusive of hydrogen. Recently discovered is a type of carbon graphite, the material in a pencil lead, having unexpected properties that could create a revolution in the development of green energy and electric cars.

According to scientist, the implications are immense since it could increase the efficiency of the fuel cells generating electricity directly from hydrogen. This breakthrough has brought about an expectation on the prospect of extracting hydrogen fuel from air and burns it as a carbon free source of energy in fuel cell in order to produce electricity as well as water without any damaging waste products.

There is some amount of hydrogen in the atmosphere which ends up on the other side in a reservoir and this hydrogen collected in the reservoir can be used to burn it in the same fuel cell in making electricity according to Professor Sir Andrei Geim of Manchester University. Since the discovery, ten years ago, graphene has amazed the scientisit which is the thinnest known material, million times thinner than human hairbut more than 200 times stronger than steel as well as the best conductor of electricity in the world.

Permeable to Protons

Till date, being permeable to protons was not taken into consideration as a practical possibility but Sir Andre’s international team of scientists who shares the 2010 Nobel Prize for his work on graphene has shown that the one atom thick crystal acts as a chemical filter which enables the free passage of protons but forms an impenetrable barrier to other atoms and molecules.

Sir Andre states that `there have been three or four scientific papers before about the theoretical predictions on how easy or how hard it would be for a proton to go through graphene and these calculations give numbers that take billions and billions of years for a proton to go through this same membrane. It is just so dense an electronic field it just doesn’t let anything through. But it is a question of numbers, no more than that and this makes a difference between billions of years and a reasonable time for permeation. There is no magic’.

Graphene Tough and Light 

Graphene being tough and stronger than steel is incredibly light and is considered the first two dimensional material since it forms sheets of crystal which are one atom thick. Besides it is also a good conductor of electricity and is useful for anything related to electronics, like bendable mobile phones, camera and wearable electrical devices attached to clothing.

Moreover, Graphene is also being utilised as a new material for membrane connected in separating liquids and could be used in purifying water in the developing world or also to create efficient desalination plants. Scientists are of the opinion that graphene’s high strength together with the low weight could be harnessed for new composite material and polymers for the transport industry making travel much safer and fuel efficient and it seems that graphene could also be used to generate upgraded type of generating clean electricity with the use of hydrogen fuel cells as well as technology in harvesting hydrogen fuel from air.

Now Get The Latest Tech News Through Your Facebook Application

FB Techwire, is the latest page launched by the company completely dedicated for highlighting all the tech news and that too in your timeline. The latest page is an expansion of the FB Newswire. This page will certainly be an advantage for the reporters and journalists who are looking forwards to exposing the biggest tech news possible from around the world.

What is Techwire all about? 

According to the company, just like Newswire, even Techwire, will be carrying out verification and aggregation of the best of the contents available around the world in a manner, which will allow the common people to understand the concept and conversation pertaining to the news.

In this way, we can clearly see that it is very much similar to the other page, but the difference comes in terms of the focus area. Earlier this year, Facebook's director of news and global media partnerships, Andy Mitchell, stated that they are thinking about an official website (Facebook) as a main source of news and associated contents. The content has been made journalist friendly, which will enable them to scan and extract the relevant data they are looking for. They are hoping that their new page Techwire will also be accepted in the same manner ad given the same importance.

What is the challenge? 

The main challenge that will be faced by the company will be to persuade the tech journalists to use their page for posting the latest news instead of using Twitter as the main platform. Facebook is known to be the largest drivers of the traffic among all the social media platforms. They know that technology draws a lot of the audience and Facebook is looking forwards to using this opportunity.

The Company’s aim is to offer more than just posting your pictures and sharing your friend’s status. The Techwire page is dedicated towards highlighting all the incidents in the technology sector. The page is powered by Storyful which is known for checking the accuracy and authenticity of the posts. Facebook has been working on grabbing every opportunity possible, starting with the introduction of Hashtags as well as trending topics. Facebook has more users than Twitter, so the company does have the capability to disseminate more news than Twitter.

With the launch of Techwire, the company can extend their media coverage as well. Newswire has already reached the peak and already been picked up by The New York times, BBC, The Washington and other publications. Facebook has opened up a new tool for the benefit of the journalist, who can do their job on a much bigger platform.

They want to beat every other site and become the most go to site for the latest tech news. The company is always towards starting their own authentic content and started a tech-news feed. Facebook has become one of the most important platforms for journalists and publishers. The Facebook user’s will have to subscribe to this page to get alerts of the latest tech news.

Facebook Launches New Groups App For iOS And Android

Facebook is one app, which can be found on every Smartphone. On 18 November, Facebook announced the launch of groups for iOS and Android. This group with have functionality very similar to that of the app due to all being connected to the same social media platform. Users will be able to download Android app directly from Google play store, whereas iPhone users get this app from the Apple’s App Store.

What is the group all about? 

Compared to the regular Facebook website accessible on the PC and on the Facebook mobile app, the group app will have lot in stored for the users, which extends more than basic functions like chatting, discussion, collaboration, and planning. Groups for iOS and Android the users to choose between different groups, they will be able to join new groups, manage their notifications, and learn about additional features and contents.

According to Facebook, the main idea for building this new app came from the people who are interact more in their groups. The whole objective is to give people an app, which will provide them an easier and faster mean of interacting in their chosen groups. However, people need to remember that, Facebook is in no mood to remove the group feature out of their main app as they did with the messenger application.

The advantage of this app is that, if you already have Facebook main app and messenger app on your phone, then when you trying to login to Group app, you will get a notification asking if you would like to login as the same person. The account holder of the Facebook will not have to login separately in all these apps of Facebook. In the Facebook group app, the users will get their groups aligned according to their preference and usage. This will allow them to move easily between each of these groups. Since all these apps use the same icon (Facebook), notification are received in the same form. However, the user’s can change this in their settings option.

According to the recent performance report, the company claimed that as of Q3, 2014, they noticed 700 million people using the groups every month. The Company is not considering this app has any experimental launch but considering it part of their main operation on the line of messenger app.

However, as this app has been developed by the same company, which produced many experimental apps, suggesting that Facebook is still not very confident about this new app. The company is releasing the app on iOS and Android platform all around the world, but they do not intend to get windows anytime soon. Although the company has not made any upgrades in the Group feature but it is still a very popular feature of the main app. For a long time people expected upgrades to come out and the rumor mills indicated the time for September.

For PC users, they should soon be expecting notification about groups that you can join.