Google and Uber May Become Rivals

After the problems faced due to drivers in Delhi Uber has begun plans on researching self driven cars which would not require any drivers. In fact any company that had to go through what Uber went through a couple of months ago would logically do this.

However, the real problem is that Google has already launched driver less cars long ago in 2010. It is postulated that such cars have already been given to its staff and might come up with an idea of enlarging the service as a business venture soon.

Logger Heads

Google in 2013 has invested around $250m in Uber, owing to its worldwide operation in more than 200 cities, however the Delhi controversy of drivers has brought a small decline in its operation. Uber at present announced its plans in self driving cars teaming up with Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, USA, which is actually expected to fund the Uber Advanced Technologies Center, according to its post in a blog.

Google with experience in the field also seems to have considerations on rolling out its own car- hailing service, if reports in Bloomberg are to be believed. An Unnamed source claiming to be close to Uber’s Board of Directors seems to hint about screenshots of app-based car rental service, which is already on roads for its staff.

Google’s Denial

However when Google has been asked for a response on this by BBC, they got a reply “think you'll find Uber and Lyft work quite well. We use them all the time."

This somehow sounds indistinct and does not give any clear cut idea whether Google would want to begin a new driver less cab service. Of course, Since the ground work is already over and Google has gained enough experience to run the show on its own its mulling over such an idea cannot be ruled out altogether.
However, speculations are still on stake because Google holds a fair share in Uber and going into business on its own might turn ruinous to Google too. Thus it is expected that Google would surely be testing the water before taking the plunge.

Uber’s Research Partner

Carnegie Mellon University which has partnered with Uber to assist in the research and technology aspect of this new venture has not left any stones unturned. They have proposed to develop newer technologies that would give proper safety while travelling and to look at maps also.

The University has enough learned and experienced faculty and staff who would surely be enthusiastic to assist such an endeavor. Research in the areas of mapping, safety while on the road and autonomy technology are planned to be conducted with combined effort of the University and National Robotics Engineering Center (NREC). Uber is very positive with the new project and is planning to take it ahead all the way.

Scientists Create 'Genetic Firewall' For New Forms of Life

Scientists to Create `Genetic Firewalls’

According to Harvard and Yale researchers, synthetic amino acids would someday enable scientists in creating `genetic firewalls’ which could prevent GMO crops or animals from escaping in the wild thus causing environmental damage. Recently scientists have come up with genetically engineered bacteria whose survival was based on lab-formulated amino acid and by `locking in’ this synthetic nutritional need, they consider that the bacteria would die quickly if they tend to escape from their carefully controlled environment to enter into the world.

A year later after creating organisms which used genetic code that was different from other living things, this team of scientists achieved another `synthetic biology’ milestone in creating bacteria which cannot survive without a specific manmade chemical and overcome a major hurdle to wider use of genetically modified organisms – GMOs. A report states what one scientist calls a `genetic firewall’ to obtain biocontainment which is a means of insuring that GMOs cannot survive outside a lab or other confined environment. Though two of the lab accomplished the bacteria, there seems to be no fundamental barrier in applying the technique to animals and plants.

Microbes Engineered from Mundane to Exotic

Biologist George Church of Harvard Medical School leading one of the studies, reported that `he thinks that they are moving in that direction’ and if the technique is successful, it could be utilised in microbes engineered for users from mundane to exotic like producing yogurt and cheese, in synthesizing industrial chemicals as well as biofuels, cleaning of toxic waste together with manufacturing of drugs.

For those applications, microbes have already been used and in some cases they contain genes from unrelated organism thereby making them genetically engineered or genetically modified, to overcome oil spills or produce insulin. Widespread usage of such GMOs constrained by concerns could escape into the wide resulting in much damage.

Church’s team in the year 2013 had reported that they had gone ahead of genetic engineering in order to create genomically recoded organisms where recoding means a bit of DNA codes for amino acid – a building block of proteins, which is different from a similar DNA code for every other living thing. Biologists, have revised the genetic spelling book. The altered bacteria which Church along with his team dubbed genomically recoded organisms or GROs is described in a pair of studies in the journal `Nature’

E. Coli Bacteria

The new studies team comprising of Church and a former colleague, Farren Isaacs, developed strains of E. coli bacteria which contained both DNA for manmade amino acid and the need for synthetic amino acids for survival. Since amino acids does not exist in nature, Isaacs presently at Yale University, was of the opinion that the resulting firewall means any GMO escaped from a lab manufacturing facility of agricultural field would not survive.

His team made 49 genetic changes to E. coli in order to make them dependent on the synthetic amino acid and as per his calculations, the odds of a microbe undoing the changes are astronomically high. Church states that by pairing genomic recoding with the firewall, biologist can create escape proof microbes wherein by incorporating novel amino acids could develop new form of drugs as well as polymers.

Microsoft Finally Has an Outlook App That Doesn't Suck

A large number of Outlook users had long waited for a designated email app for Android and iOS platform. Microsoft had released cross platform email app for its widely popular email service Outlook which runs flawlessly on Android and iOS. This new app is gaining popularity and appreciation for its higher functionality which sets it apart from other email clients by bring in the multitasking. This app even provides support for non-Microsoft accounts such as Gmail and Yahoo who can cherish using this innovative app for accessing their different accounts.

The Features of New Outlook App

For starters this app isn’t an original Microsoft product rather it is brushed up app overtaken from mobile developer Accompli. This simply translates that this app doesn’t support all the features of Outlook for Windows. This app includes a built-in calendar and other features which makes the finding attachments and contact easier without going through the inbox. This new app is drawing huge praises from all corners due to intuitive design, interactive user interface and higher functionality than other counterparts.

Outlook users had long relied on third party apps as well as web apps to access their Outlook accounts. Microsoft had even launched some mobile version of Outlook in past to address the user’s problems with its Outlook web app but it was available only a limited number of iPhone and Android smartphones which was not an ideal solution.

This new app easily syncs the calendar data from multiple accounts such as from Gmail, Yahoo, iCloud etc. This new app even omits some of the extra properties like the color-coded categories and the ability to make distinction between an appointment and a meeting. An analyst had even praised this app by saying that Microsoft had finally freed the Outlook email from the confines of the office PC.

Microsoft Welcomes Suggestions From Users With Preview

This new Outloook app is also set to bring the touch optimized feel of Outlook App which is designed for Windows 10. Just like the other Microsoft’s previous Android app releases, the first version of Outlook will have a ‘preview’ label which helps in collecting feedbacks from users with different types of devices. Currently Microsoft had removed the preview label from the Android tablet versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint apps and now these apps are free for use on Android platform.

Microsoft Generates Cross Platform App

Microsoft just looks like stretching its core windows product to all the prospective customers by launching cross-platform apps one after another. Microsoft saw a great success with its Skype app and later on Office apps for both iOS and Android platform. The latest release of the Outlook app for cross platform performance will help in bringing additional revenue to Microsoft which earlier only concentrated on building Windows app which had limited reach. At the moment Microsoft’s broader goal is to help its customers become more productive regardless of their location and device with different cross platform apps.

Glow Headphones Will Beam Light, Pulse to Your Heartbeat

Innovation and advancement never tends to stop in the field of technology and mainly in the consumer product category. Innovators had turned their head towards making the music products much sleeker and smarter and charming in every way possible. Headphones had long been in fashion for listening to the music and other entertaining purposes based on sound. A new start-up named Glow LLC had launched an innovative headphone on Kickstarter which can glow as per the beat of music.

How The Headphones Glow

This new range of smart headphone is using an amazing new product called Corning Fibrance which is essentially a light-diffusing glass optical fibre. This fibre could be crafted into extremely thin, flexible and could emit beautifully vibrant light. Glow had used this Fibrance to pulse the diffused laser light as per the pulse to the beat of your music. Glowing headphone simply brings the visual beauty in user’s inner music world with a glow.

Features Of The Glow Headphone

The Glow team had worked hard on providing a glowing headphone with added features. These headphones boast a wide range of awesome feature for the Android users. Glow headphones give a 5-way remote which allows users to control the music and forward it through tracks like other headphones. Along with that this remote even allows users to take pictures and reply to different texts. This headphone even integrates the Google Now, Google Play Music and Pandora which could controlled with users phones via voice. Furthermore users can even handle voice calls by clicking on the center button of the headphone.

Kickstrater Funding Is Vital In Providing More Features

Glow already possesses a wide number of features but Glow LLC is vying to include more with better funding opportunities. Glow had kept some distinct goals ahead of itself on Kicstarter which would help in bringing in more functionality. If they could generate funding of $300,000 then it could provide an intuitive carrying case for keeping headphones safe. On reaching $500,000 Glow will be able to hire developer to make glow headphones integrated with Apple iOS platform. Finally on getting $750,000 Glow will be able to bring in Glow To Motion feature to its headphones which allows headphones to glow as per the pulse of the steps and movements. At $1,000,000 Glow would bring in a feature which lets the headphones glow as per the beat of user’s heart.

Glow Headphones Likely To Find Fans Globally

Glow can illuminates for over eight hours and gets charged extremely quickly via micro-USB in 30 minutes. This headphone even lets the user’s listen to music when battery runs out. Glow had invested highly in procuring the best quality sound by working with Knowles which is known as making audio parts for major manufacturers like Sennheiser. However it is yet to be seen whether glowing light and other functionality happens to perform perfectly in real time conditions but it is getting fans and appreciation from others and it is also getting more funding each passing moment.

IBM Identity Mixer Wants To Better Protect Your Personal Data from Hackers

IBM had finally developed a cloud-based cryptogram called Identity Mixer which will address the prevalent data breaches and theft in its own way. Identity Mixer would provide a safe haven for the users and it would keep them safe from any unwanted event of loss of personal data in any manner. This service is also going to make sure that suspicious and unwanted individuals don’t have access to the sensitive personal information.

In the years there had been several instances of loss of personal data such as in Home Depot, JPMorgan Chase and icloud hacking activities. Personal data today comprises of vast number of info which ranges from email address, phone numbers o credit card details. IBM Identity Mixer will help them securing those data in encrypted form.

Identity Mixer Could Help In Securing Personal Data To Great Extent

Identity Mixer provides solutions to the users in terms of giving out their personal data to different institutions in effective manner. It effectively uses the cryptographic algorithm which confirms automatically the user’s identity i.e. ‘who they are’ to the institution they wish to confirm without actually giving up personal information by themselves.

To across this dynamic solution straight forward lets consider that a person wishes to subscribe to a Netflix account. Netflix have it own terms and conditions such as users should be 18 years of age as well as live in a certain region in order to create an account. Identity Mixer comes in rescue for the users by providing an encrypted ID card which stores the personal information to such institutions without user’s requirement to do it manually.

Benefits Of Utilizing Identity Mixer

Identity Mixer will eliminate the need for the IT organisations to collect the personal information like age, nationality, address and most importantly the credit card numbers. Instead of manually declaring the data users will have a set of encrypted credentials in place which could be verified by Identity Mixer. This approach would also eliminate the use of sharing personal information by the users and at the same time it makes the process of identifying the user identities for any service provider on Web sphere. Identity Mixer is already working with AU2EU.

The Identity Mixer’s cryptogram could work with any other service which requires any kind of identification like the digital wallets which are gaining popularity these days. Having the Identity Mixer in place will make sure that user’s don’t have to input their credit card details into the digital wallets at all. In this respect this service also identical to the security system place in Apple Pay.

IBM To Enhance Its Identity Mixer

Currently IBM is running the public beta version of Identity Mixer on its state of art Bluemix cloud platform. But IBM has plans to make its Identity Mixer available to any provider of web service either through its own Bluemix or in the form of software deployed on their systems. IBM is even allowing the independent developers to try their hand on its Identity Mixer to make it better with new feature and highly secure in every aspect.