Surprising Apps That You Might Have Missed- 2014

Each year ends with a list of apps released for televisions, phones and camera in that year in terms of features. However, when it comes to smartphones it becomes very difficult to make a list of the applications, which have topped the chart, and the ones, which we may have missed out. If someone will ask as to what they think about the best apps for 2014, we might end of scratching the head with tons of apps in play-stores for Android and iOS. However, ask anyone about the apps that they will not recommend their friends and family, and then you will have a whole list of apps in front of you.

Surprising apps:

Some of the apps that you might have missed out this year and are worthy of atleast one try are:

1. Vainglory :

It is free and for iOS only. This game achieved something, which was never achieved by anyone in the past, and it was not a surprise that it featured in the iPhone 6 Apple event. It showed people how to play MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena) game in a very simple way. Everybody was able to access the game due to the simple explanation of the rules and the objectives of the games. It explains the part of the game, like for example it will explain the player that minions are used like a barrier to soak up the damage and keep their character safe. The game explains the player how to gain advantage over their enemies.

2. Tastemade :

This is also free and meant for Android and iOS. This is completely foodie app. This app allows the users to use perfect tools to make video reviews of the restaurant in professional way. Although the app was launched in 2013 but due to some makeovers, it was released in 2014. This app is all about self-made reviews.

3. QuickPics Photo Manager :

There are lots of apps available in the app store similar to this one. As it is only available for iOS, it does most of the job that is required for iOS photos. This app allows users to tag people in their photos in the gallery and if you are searching for photos of your app, you need to select the tag. This app at present is not available in iOS 8. It is quite surprising that Apple has not come up with this idea of tagging the picture on the phone and it was started by a third party. If you like to tag photos to remember the person in future, then this app is something you should not be missing.

4. Trial Frontier:

Even though this game is available for desktops and consoles, the iOS version has garnered lot of attention. The players have to cross through endless number of obstacles before reaching the finishing line. It is very amazing for a mobile game. You can have more than 50 hours of game-play and nearly 70 different tracks.

First Virtual School for Internet-Addicted Teens in Japan

With the growing population of internet-addicted teens in Japan, the country is now working towards opening the world’s first ever virtual school. This school will be opened with the aim of catering to the growing needs of the teens in Japan and the ones who find it difficult to function normally in the real world.

The Cybernation School

With the increasing importance of education, the Cybernation School on the outskirts of Tokyo will allow the dropout students to complete their secondary education at their own convenience and comfort of their own bedroom. The school works with the motto of making the Smartphone as the student’s classroom. The school is expected to be launched and started from April 2015 and it has already received nearly 1000 inquiries regarding the first 300 seats, which are available. The school is planning to allow their students to create their own avatars to attend the necessary classes and they can also make friends with other avatars of their classmates. The home works completed and submitted by the students will be checked the teacher’s avatars.

According to the reports published in the Times, the virtual classes for the students will be made of pre-recorded lectures, which will be streamed online. The students will be able to collect necessary study points and gain knowledge that will help them in graduating after 3 years.

It has been observed in Japan that pupils fail to attend to school due to many psychological reasons in 2013. The number is as high as 120,000. Most of these pupils are the recluses or the hikikomori, who find it difficult to make and develop human relationships and prefer to have an anonymous virtual reality online. According to the government statistics, there are nearly 700,000 hikikomori in Japan as of 2010. These people voluntarily take the decision of staying alone and away from society and public.

Meisei High School

Meisei Cyber, which is an initiative of the private Meisei High School in Chiba region, will also offer tests and classes through computer, tablets, and computers in a three-year high school curriculum. Similar to that of Cybernation school, even Meisei school will allow students to study at the comfort of their home, but the students will still have attend the regular school for 4 days every year. Students will be able to consult with friends regarding their students and enjoy their student’s life at the same time. The students will be able to play games through a farm and the fishing spots provided for them.

According to Kota Hasegawa, Meisei spokesperson, this virtual school will be a blessing for the students’, who are scared of attending day school to earn a graduate degree. Although the school agrees that face-to-face education and communication is vital, they are taking another approach to reach out to the students through online education and communication.

As far as online education and learning are concerned, it is not a new phenomenon is Japan. Japan is thinking about giving all the opportunities to educate their children.

Windows 10 Will Bring Native Support For .Mkv And Flac Files

Microsoft is planning to add the .MKV and FLAC support on Windows 10 for next year, to expand its support for other popular media file formats. Microsoft is also adding the native support for audio codecs and advanced video in Windows 10 Developer Preview. 

Windows 10 build 9860 was recently released by Microsoft, wherein they have also given the native support for .MKV and FLAC media formats. As far as these media formats are concerned, these were not supported by Microsoft in any of their builds and as recent as Windows 8.1. This lead to the user getting the pop-up displaying that, “File is not supported by the player”, when they tried opening these formats in windows media player. Gabriel Aul from the Windows Insider Program posted some of the screenshots on Twitter depicting the FLAC support in Windows media player. Going by the lossless nature of the file format, the FLAC support by the media player for Windows 10 has taken the high-end audio fanatic community by a large storm.

Further, the company is also looking to offer platform-level support for MKV and FLAC media formats, this means that now a 3rd party application also will be able to play these files. One of the best features is the fact that a user does not need to search and install plug-ins in their media player to play these files. This news is even more exciting as Microsoft is currently working on unveiling their new consumer-centric features of Windows 10 in late of January 2015. From this, it is very clear that the company is trying to reach out to the fans of the AV and making the right changes, which will mainly helping in boosting the multimedia competency of Windows 10.

Need of FLAC and .MKV format: 

High-end audio fans love to use FLAC files as it promises everything, which required for crystal clear sounds. But unfortunately, this format is not widely-supported; however it is going to get the space in Windows 10. Last month Microsoft officials stated that now Windows 10 will support .MKV format also.

As now Microsoft is providing the platform-level support for FLAC and .MKV format, so it clear that now third party applications will be able to play their specific files on Windows 10. It will be helpful for users as; now they don’t need to face any hassle such as; installing plug-ins and other software’s in order to play the files of these formats.

Although FLAC is not a very widely supported format, but it is loved by the high end audio fans as it preserves the quality of the music as it would be in any music studio. It has the capability of reducing the original audio file to 60 % of its original size. This is possible through the fancy algorithm of FLAC. With the passing, we are getting new information about the yet to be launched Windows 10 operating system

The other positive aspect of FLAC is that it is an open and non-proprietary format with royalty-free licensing. Currently, there is no patent or any kind of issues that anyone has to worry about regarding FLAC. FLAC is known for boasting about their support for metadata tagging, cover art, album and fast seeking. Microsoft is ready to unveil these consumer-centric features in January 2015, for Windows 10. It is making the clear statement that now in January is targeting the AV geeks and enthusiasts.

NASA Prepares Launch Of Four Satellites That Will Finally Explore Out The Origins Of Earth’s Mysterious Magnetic Field

A scientist might be able to answer any question pertaining to the magnetic fields, but actually how much information do we have about the Earth’s magnetic field. If we tend to change our focus from the Earth’s magnetic field, how much information do we have about other magnetic fields like subatomic or terrestrial.

In March 2015, NASA is expected to be launching their Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission (MMS). The scientists have been putting in effort in this mission from past 10 years, mainly to get answers to some of the unbelievable questions pertaining to the Earth’s magnetic field.

The mission consists of 4 satellites and these satellites are expected to get arranged in a Pyramid form. This pyramid form has been opted to create a first detailed three-dimensional map of a process called as magnetic reconnection. The magnetic reconnection is the phenomenon which is experienced directly as solar flares, geomagnetic storms, and even australis and aurora borealis.

Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission: 

This mission is expected to be the extended version of the European Space Agency’s successful Cluster II Mission. In March 2015, NASA is planning to launch the MMS vehicles together as a stack in an Atlas V 421 rocket, rather than launching them in pairs.

The picture of the satellites released by NASA shows that these vehicles push the size limit for the cross section of a craft which can be easily carried out in a rocket in an assembled form. On the similar concept, NASA has also been working on a separate project, called the ATHLETE robot, which resembles the outlook of MMS and also has the ability to pile multiple vehicles in the core of the rocket.

How it will work? 

Once these reach their desired destination, which is a highly elliptical orbit around Earth, these vehicles will separate from each other and form a pyramid keeping one craft at each vertex of the tetrahedron. Later on they will release the feelers. Scentists will be using the smaller probe separations (few kilometers) for exploring the actual reconnection processes and Large distances between each craft (Ranging up to 250 miles/400 kilometers) for the identification of the reconnection events.

The day-side magnetopause and the magnetotai will be the places where the magnetic connection will be showcased and this will done through the optimization of the highly elliptical orbit of the formation around the Earth. The magnetopause is the place where the pressure from the planet’s magnetic field and the solar wind and are equal, on the other hand, the magnetotail spreads to great distances from the originating planet due to the magnetosphere (pressure from the solar wind).

The Magnetic reconnection happens in the thin layers where there is a high concentration of magnetic and mechanical energy. In order to create a fusion, it is important to understand the magnetic reconnection. This will help in understanding the magnetic confinement of the materials which scientists are looking towards fusing.

This mission has be launched to understand the magnetic field of the earth and how the core temperature of the earth affects the same.

Google Glass To Return With Intel In 2015

According to the WSJ (the wall street journal), Google is expected to launch a completely new model of their Glass handset in 2015, which will offer longer battery life than the present explorer edition and will be powered by an Intel chip inside. Looking at the current edition, the company has already made a couple of small upgrades, which includes the addition of compatibility of the device with prescription lenses and the other of being the decision to double the RAM. However, if the company is looking to make changes to the processor, then it means that the company will be required to overhaul the entire range of wearable.

Changes expected in the new edition

As far as Google Glass’s adoption is concerned, the issue of limited battery life and a threatening four-figure price has acted against the company. While on one side, Intel is very excited about the whole concept and is very much interested in promoting Google glass as the perfect workplace companion, Google is expecting to increase the interest of the customers through a refreshed design and a new modern processor.

At present, not much information has been revealed by either company, but going by the rumors, as far as Intel hardware is concerned, the most likely option for powering the Google glass will be the low-power chip, which is at the center of Intel's MICA bracelet. As far as MICA is concerned, it is from the Intel's New Devices Group. This group aims at understanding and examining as to what kind of new devices will be able to push the microprocessor revolution to the next stage. One of the most prominent features of the new glass edition is expected to be battery life, which according to Intel can last up to 2 days. If the company is able to recreate the same in smaller dimension glass, then it means the battery life will get doubled up.

Although the experimental gadget has gone through some iterative changes, the major ones are expected to be rolled out next year. According to the Wall Street Journal report, the partnership between Intel and Google for Glass will include the marketing of the device to the hospitals apart from offices. The journal has also highlighted the Google has got a new patent in the form of biometric authentication. The users will have the option to either chose a single iris or both their iris for the purpose of authentication. The report stated that Intel will be providing the electronic brains for the new version of the Google Glass. The new Intel chip will be replacing the existing processor from Texas Instruments Inc used in their very first version.

Although post the launch in 2012, Google glass was subjected to criticism due to privacy issues and being too nerdy, still it was being considered as a workplace-computing device. Google is expecting the device to be an evolution from the previous version and become useful for organization, but still being a crossover device for consumers.