Smart Mirror Monitors Your Face For Tell-Tale Signs Of Disease

Mirror to Assess Health of Individual

The latest is a new mirror which can assess the health of an individual by simply looking into it, which analyses the facial expressions, fatty tissue and how pale or flush a person tends to be. The purpose of the gadget is to mark out cardiovascular diseases like stroke and heart disease which are the prevailing causes of death all across the globe.

Researchers are of the belief that getting to know the early signs of these conditions is the best medicine in reducing the burden of health care cost connected in the treatment of these chronic diseases. Wize Mirror seems to look like a mirror, though incorporated 3D scanners, multispectral cameras as well as gas sensors in order to assess the health of a person viewing into it.

It comprises of facial recognition software which looks for tell-tale signs of stress or anxiety. The device makes use of gas sensors in collecting samples of the user’s breath and checks for certain compounds and features a three dimensional scanner in analysing face shape for weight gain or loss, together with multispectral cameras in order to estimate the heart rate or the level of haemoglobin.

Technology Developed by Consortium of Researchers

The software needs about a minute in analysing the data and then it provides a score which informs the user how healthy they are and also tends to display personalised information on how to make improvements in their health.

The technology has been developed by a consortium of researchers as well as industry partners from seven European Union – EU countries, utilising EU funding. Sara Colantonio together with colleagues from the National Research Council of Italy will be coordinating with the project and would want to utilise Wize Mirror in addressing common long term health issue which are not easy to treat and intent viewing the device as a tool which could be helpful in addressing these health problems of heart diseases as well as diabetes.

The clinical trials of the device are arranged to begin next year at three sites in France and Italy, with focus to compare its readings with those from traditional medical devices. They have stated that `prevention is the most viable approach in reducing the socio-economic burden of chronic and widespread disease like cardiovascular and metabolic diseases’.

Accurate Health Assessment in Natural Setting - Challenging

Consumer technology which can interpret signals from the body to understand the underlying physical as well as mental health is on the point of being part of our daily life. For instance, Cardiio which was originally created at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is an app that utilises a smartphone’s camera in order to monitor the blood levels in the face and expresses the heart rate.

At the MIT’s Media Lab, Javier Hernandez looked at utilising mirrors for the purpose of health monitoring and also developed a program known as SenseGlass wherein it uses Google Glass together with other wearable to measure a person’s mood thus enabling them to handle their emotions.

Hernandez has stated that though the mirrors are great for the purpose of health monitoring, since we use them daily, making use of them in this manner is complex than it seems to sound. According to him `accurate health assessment in natural settings are quite challenging due to several factors like the illumination change, occlusions and the excessive motion’.

Ban Killer Robots Before They Take Over, Stephen Hawking & Elon Musk Say

UN Urged to Ban AI Based Autonomous Weapons

A new report has urged the United Nation to ban the making of artificial intelligence based autonomous weapons, already accused as `killer robots’ and the development of such types of weapons by global arms. An open letter warning against the dangers of global arms race of artificial intelligence – AI technology,has been signed by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, physicist Stephen Hawking together with several other tech luminaries that the United Nation should support a ban on weapons which humans do not have any control over it.

The letter issued by the Future of Life organization was presented on July 27 during the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Buenos Aires, Argentina – Super-Intelligent Machine: 7 Robotic Futures. Referring to the automatic weapons, the letter reads as follow, `the key question for humanity today is whether to start a global AI arms race or to prevent it from starting.

If any major military power pushes ahead with AI weapon development, a global arms race is virtually inevitable and the endpoint of this technological trajectory is obvious, autonomous weapons will become the Kalashnikovs of tomorrow’.

Risks Greater Than Modelled Nuclear Weapons

According to the signatories, the risks could be much greater than those modelled by nuclear weapons. From self-driving cars and much more, humanity’s main tasks are being taken over by robots. The unavoidable hike of the machine has urged both ideal as well as apocalyptic vision of the future.

 Artificial intelligence researchers have in fact voiced their concerns on how innovation in this field are developing and with autonomous AI weapons like the drone planes which seek and kill people using a face recognition algorithm.

 The writers of the letter debate that the technology would be here in a few years. According to the letter while the drone fighters’ limits to battlefield casualties, these autonomous bots could probably lower the edge in initiating clashes in the first place. In addition to this, these autonomous weapons could also possibly be in the hands of practically every military power in the world due to AI based killing machines that would not be much costly or difficult to obtain resources.

AI – Hold Great Dangers

It would also not be very long for assassins, terrorist as well as other bad characters to purchase them in the black market and utilise them for despicable purposes according to the scientists. The letter further states that `autonomous weapons are ideal for tasks like assassination, destabilizing nations, subduing populations as well as selectively killing any particular ethnic group and it is believed that a military AI arms race would not be beneficial for humanity’.

It is not the first time that science as well as tech luminaires have raised their concern against the dangers of artificial intelligence. Hawking had stated that in 2014, the development of full artificial intelligence could have influenced the end of the human race. He together with Musk had signed a letter by the same organization in January cautioning that the AI tends to hold great dangers unless humanity would assure that AI systems `will do what we want them to’.

How to Skip the Microsoft Windows 10 Download Queue and FORCE the Update to Install

The new Windows 10 is already here, and it has arrived with quite a bang! Claiming its usual high and popular seat in the world of operating systems, Windows 10 is already nearing a number of users across the globe that amounts to a near of seventy million. The number not just merely tabulates the popularity of this latest installation to this epic list of Microsoft presentations, but is also greatly indicative of the user friendly approach it presents with itself that is already fast catching up with the fancy of the users.

A few pointers...before shooting off... 

The first thing to be kept in mind while getting this new installation, especially if you are about to upgrade from a previous operating system like Windows 7 or 8.1, is that it is always safer to have a back-up of your previous system; especially since like any software or OS, Windows 10 too has the unfortunate chance of carrying a bug or two. Creating a system image of your old computer system is the best option.

Another popular advice doing the rounds is installing Windows 10 separately and getting a hang of it before letting your old operating system be completely replaced.

The Main Course... 

The simplest option here is to go for a downloading of the Windows 10 from the official website of Microsoft. The ISO image available there can be downloaded and installed. Also the option to upgrade your previously installed version of Windows is available too. The upgrading process will be prompted. Nevertheless, it can be burnt on an optical disk or a bootable USB flash drive can also be created. For up gradation purposes the original license key is necessary. The OS can be installed on a virtual machine as well.
 
Now for fast installation without having to wait, go to the C drive into the folder Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download. Next delete all the files and folders here. Opening command promt by hitting the Windows key and typing CMD should now be showing you a black window with white writing. Ensure that you are signed in as the administrator. This can easily be done by a right a click followed by selecting 'run as administrator'. Next, hit the Windows key and go to the Windows Update screen. Click the 'check for updates' button. Lastly, return to the command prompt screen and type in 'wuauclt.exe/updatenow' and press enter. That should be doing the trick.

Some Basic Requirements

• 1 GHz processor
• 1 GB RAM (2 GB for the 64 bit version)
• 16 GB storage space
• 4 GB flash drive ( 8 GB flash drive for the 64 bit version)

The Last...not the Least

Once installed or upgraded and followed by an activation, Microsoft will associate your unique hardware ID with that of an activated Windows 10 license. The Windows 10 is only provided free for upgrade. The full installer requires a full downloading of the installer where regular charges will be applicable.

It is imperative that you look into this latest version and get a taste of it before you actually decide to abandon your previous version. Without doubt this is much suited to the modern need of fast handling, and yet an understanding of it is necessary before one decides to plunge in this new novelty completely.

A Fiber Optic Internet Connection for Your Home

If you use the Internet in your home for your personal entertainment, for your business or both, you need to look at what fiber optics offers you. You may have heard that a cable Internet connection is the fasted possible for your home, or perhaps you enjoy the speed and reliability of a DSL connection from your local phone company, but until you experience fiber optics, you do not know what speed on the Internet is really all about.

What makes fiber optics different?

This technology is different from an Internet connection over the phone lines or cable wires because it does not use traditional copper wire. Copper causes a signal to lose power over distance as the voltage drops across the resistance of the copper. The speeds that can be transmitted across copper are also limited by the signal loss inherent in copper. Fiber optics does not use copper as a conductor of the signal, because the signal is not electrical in nature. Fiber optics uses light as the means of transmitting data. Without the power or signal loss inherent in copper wire, fiber optic technology allows for a greater distance of transmission, and it allows for greater amounts of data without significant signal loss.

If this technology is so good, why is it not available everywhere?

The truth is that someday it will be available everywhere, and the Internet over the phone and cable lines will become obsolete. The problem has been that an entire fiber optic network has to be laid down. At the time of this writing, more than a quarter of the nation has access to this high speed Internet technology.

Should I get a fiber optic connection?

It is completely up to you, but there are a couple of considerations. The moment you get this high speed connection, the limitation on speed while surfing the Internet will be your computer, so you should have a computer system that is compatible with high speed Internet use. This simply means a computer that can view movies and other videos on the Internet, and perhaps play many high speed online games. Also, if you have several people using the same Internet connection in your home, fiber optics is for you. Not only is it high speed, but it can handle a large amount of data, so everyone can use it at once.

The fiber optic network is being rolled out in all 50 states and is being added in new locations every day. A fiber optic internet in Oakland connection can be found through AT&T.

This Handy Tool Lets You Unsend Emails -- But There's A Catch

Most of the time people regret after sending an important mail filled with typo and other errors in a hurry. Sometimes people even type something in their fit of anger which they shouldn’t in sane condition and accidently click on the Reply All instead of ‘Reply’. Just a second after sending the email these errors are noticed by the user and unfortunately there is no ‘unsend’ button in email to retract the last sent mail and save your face.

A new solution to unsend emails

A simple and powerful extension has been developed by the Criptext Mail for the Google Chrome and Apple Safari web browsers. This extension will provide much needed feature of ‘recall’ which will prevent the recipients from reading the messages if you accidently send a regretful mail.

Point to be noted here is that it will not stop the email from sending nor it will unsend the mail itself rather it will prevent reader just from reading the contents. Furthermore users can even add an “expiration timer” to their messages and once the set time limit is reached this extension will automatically recall the mail.

Google Unsend Feature Integrated In The Gmail

Criptext Mail recall option might seem revolutionary and much commendable but Google had also earlier launched a ‘unsend’ feature in its Gmail which received much praise due to time limitations. Google unsend option has to be enabled by the users and it a cancellation period has to be set which ranges from 10 to 30 seconds. It simply once you had sent a mail you will just 10 to 30 seconds to unsend the mail which is not as appealing as the Criptext Mail solution.

The shortcomings of Criptext Mail Extension

Criptext allows the users to recall the email at any point of time once a mail has been sent. But this extension is also have its own share of flaws. One such thing is that Criptext extension appends a large signature advertising service to any mail sent by the user. It appears upfront and above the mail body which says :”Hi, I’ve sent you this email using Criptext for Gmail and Outlook”.

It is very likely that most of the recipients will overlook the mail as a promotional mail forwarded by you. At first it will hard for the recipient to notice that you are using third party service to send mails. A pro version of Criptext extension will soon be available for the users which offer to get rid of the long drawn signature.

How does Criptext Mail extension works? 

Criptext had found unique and innovative way of converting messages into images and later on they are encrypted. This prevents the messages from being scanned by bots as they appear to be animated elements. Furthermore the recalling option doesn’t remove the mail from the recipient’s inbox but the image version of the message gets deleted. In this manner recipients will be unable to read any of the content present in the mail but they will wonder what had you sent.