A Google Engineer is Testing USB Type-C Cables so you don't have to

USB Type-C – Reversible Design/Super-Fast Speed/High Power Output

USB Type-C is certainly the future cable, due to its reversible design together with super-fast speed and high power output. Apple as well as Google has both bet big on its normal predictable ubiquity by using it in the new MacBook as well as both of the Nexus phones. But it will still be some time before it would completely replace the usual Type-A and B connectors, which means that those who had rushed earlier would have to stock up on new cable, In other words there are quite a lot of third party cables which have not been fully tested and are likely to destroy the new device.

Fortunately, a Google engineer has been testing out possibly dangerous cables prior to purchasing them. Google’s Benson Leung works on the Chrombook Pixel line and is closely familiar with Type-C together with its requirements. Due to various devices gradually coming out which tend to support the standard, he took the initiative of holding third-party vendors liable, by reviewing their cables on Amazon stating that he had got fed up with the early cables from third party vendors which so blatantly display the specification.

Out-of-Spec Cables

There seems to be plenty out-of-spec cables but Leung’s Amazon profile indicates that there are handfuls ones which are reliable. Leung challenges this assertion as it applies to USB Type-C cables and the results are not too good. Leung who is a software engineer on the Chrome OS team and an engineer on the Chromebook Pixel as well as Pixel C team reviewed several multiple USB Type-C convertor cables.

He evaluated each of the cables manufactured by companies like CableCreation, Belkin, Frieq, iOrange, Juiced Systems, Orzly Monba, Kupx and Techmatte to find out if they met the USB group specifications. The results seemed to be mixed. The cables meeting the relevant USB-IF specifications for their respective features were Frieq, Belkin and iOrange while the rest have one of two serious issues.

CableCreation’s adapters have advertised as being 3A cables though do not cover internal circuitry capable of supporting that power level. Rather than utilising a resistor of value 56kΩ, CableCreation has used a 10kΩ pull up. The Kupx and Techmatte adapter tend to have the same problem while Monba’s adapter does not identify itself accurately at all.

Converters to Operate with Legacy Equipment

By marketing cable which have a Type-A plug on one side though a resistor which must only be utilised where there is a pure Type-C charging path, tends to risk damaging the older hardware with the out-of-spec cable. Some cables seem to be easy to test regarding functionality which may either work or not though several of them are not helpful.

Most of the USB Type-C cables which Leung tested will technically work but if it is connected to the correct hardware it may result in damaged equipment and this type of failure mode is invisible to the consumer. Users are under the impression that their chargers tend to work, unless they are presented with evidence to the contrary.If one tends to have a Chrombook Pixel of 2015 and would prefer to check if your USB Type-C cable contains the proper hardware, Leung has posted instruction on how to do the same over on Google+.

Though he is not signifying that these cables are inferior choice for anything but the Chromebook Pixel, the problem that he has recognized would be common to any hardware. It is especially important that companies need to get these issues corrected since USB Type-C naturally needs these converters to operate with legacy equipment.

Your Tablet Screen is Brought to You with the Aid of Carrots

Most of the people are looking forward to get some great deals on consumer electronic products like Smartphone, tablet, computer or TV during this holiday season. The common component among all these products, which help in enhancing the user experience, is the ‘display’. A German company named Merck KGaA is the world’s oldest chemicals and pharmaceuticals maker and it also happens to be the leading supplier of liquid crystals which are used in display. Currently Merck produces astonishingly more than 60% of all liquid crystals, which are sold on global scale. It is simply way ahead of its rivals companies from China and Japan in this area.

Liquid crystals bring better quality and definition in display

Horts Stegmeyer is a well known scientist and author of a variety of books on liquid crystals. He stated that millions of consumers who own the Smartphone, computer and televisions don’t know that their display contains the liquid crystals which helps in delivering high definition color reproduction. Stegemeyer further elaborates that almost 80% of fundamental research in the field of liquid crystals are done by Merck. Merck is also applauded for pioneering the innovation in this field.

The applications of liquid crystals are quite vast and it is even used as security holograms on the banknotes apart from being used in consumer electronics industry on wider scale.

What are liquid crystals? 

Liquid crystals were first discovered by two scientists namely Austrian Botanist Friedrich Reinitzer and the German physicist Otto Lehmann in 1888. These scientists were experimenting on the natural substances, which are found in the carrots, and they found a relatively strange phenomenon wherein few of the substances tend to have different melting points. At the arrival of first melting these natural substances simply melted into a cloudy liquid while reaching the second melting point cloudiness disappeared and a clear transparent liquid left behind. This particular new state of matter is known as ‘liquid crystal’, which has found dominant usage in the development of display panels.

At that time people didn’t know what to do with this new finding. Reinitzer and Lehmann sought the assistance of Merck in validating their finding and Merck started the production of liquid crystals way back in 1904.

Merck still pioneering the research in liquid crystal field

Merck family had kept a firm hold in keeping the research alive in the field of liquid crystal, which helped consumers in having magnificent displays in their phones, tablets, televisions and much more. At the beginning of the 21st century cathode ray tube started to phase out and finally be replaced by the flat panels. It was then Merck bet on aggressively researching and polishing the liquid crystals paved their way to gain some credible profit.

The slow and steady rise in the Smartphones and tablets began a trend where people were only looking flat panel display in more and more bigger terms. Merck has dominated the liquid crystal market and business for a long time and it generated huge profit from which are used to finance research for another screen technology called OLED.

Computers Can Perceive Image Curves Like Artists

View/Recognize Object through Image Features

Humans tend to view and recognize object through image features like the shapes and curves. For instance, we can identify faces, cars, animals and the various other objects through their simple sketch image. However, for the computer, recognizing object or the features of image could be a challenging affair. Precise display of image features is very essential in a wider range of computer vision application, for instance – image registration, object detection and 3D reconstruction.

These images features comprise of contours, edges, corners, regions, lines, curves, interest points and much more. But the research is disjointed in these areas particularly with regards to line and curve discovery. The focus in the thesis lies in discovering, integrating, evaluating and summarizing past research and their contribution in the field of image features.

An understanding on the framework of concept, evaluation, implementation and application for image features has been provided with this thesis. The thesis first proposes a new concept of interest curves which is a concept resulted and extended from interest points. They are significant lines and arcs present in an image, repeated under different image transformation bringing out clear guidelines and structure for future curve and line discovery process and associated application.

Thesis – Evaluation Outline, Distinguishing/Describing Interest Curves

Next, the thesis presents an evaluation outline in distinguishing and describing interest curves and the evaluation framework offers a new model in comparing the performance of the state-of-the-art line and curve sensors beneath image agitations as well as transformations. Lastly it intends an interest curve detector – Distinctive Curves, DICU that unites the discovery of corners, lines, edges and curves.

For upcoming technologies like virtual reality, Google Car or AI brain, image feature would tend to be fundamental components. There has been solid concept missing even though there are hundreds of solutions for the detection of image features already available till now. Bo Li, in his doctoral thesis at the Department of Applied Physics and Electronics at Umea University had developed a discovery concept in computer vision, interest curves. He informed that with this system, the computer can redraw an image utilising curves strokes and recognize objects through these curves.

Concept – New Dimensions of Comprehending Image Features

The concept tends to bring new dimensions of comprehending image features which comprise of regions, points, lines and curves as well as enables these features to be signified within the same hypothetical outline. It enhances the standard for future research related to image features while at the same time offers practical guidance in this field.

 The most essential element in feature extraction, according to Bo Li, is the vigour and his results indicate that his system enables curves and lines to be noticed strongly under different image transformation and disturbances. Curves and lines, in the past had not been popular as points and regions in the scope of computer vision since they lacked adequate strength.

With Li’s new theory as well as algorithms, this will bring about a change. Bo Li explains that curves and lines tend to be naturally useful than points since humans use these shapes in describing the world and his doctorate work portrays several advantages of using curve features in computer vision applications.

Implantable LEDs Could Block Pain Wirelessly

Micro-LED Device – Block Pain with Touch of a Button

At Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, researchers are making discovery by implanting tiny LEDs beneath the skin in order to display particular areas of the body which tend to hurt. The so-called micro-LEDs that seem to be flexible and compatible with the body of the person can be wirelessly activated to block pain with a touch of a button.

The tiny device is said to represent a development in the emerging field of optogenetics that involves connecting light to control cells. The invention seems to be a small flexible light emitting diode or LED which tends to respond to the neural activity of the brain. Researchers had used lab mice to show how the device could manipulate parts of the brain which recognizes the pain.

The procedure comprises of changing the DNA construct of neurons in the brain that enables them to respond to light. The study to develop circuits in the nervous system and the spinal cord came up when Robert Gereau, director of the Pain Centre at Washington University in St. Louis partnered with John Rogers, professor of materials sciences and engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Soft/Flexible Device Implanted in Person’s Body

The researchers developed the soft, flexible device which could be implanted into a person’s body and theoretically blocks pain signals from the spinal cord or other parts of the body prior to the signals reaching the brain. Taking the pain into consideration could typically be something which tends to draw the attention to an area needing treatment by just turning it off and ignoring the problem may not be an appropriate solution.Hence this technology has been developed as a last resort system of pain relief while the other treatments have not been much successful.

According to Robert W. Gereau IV besides being a director of the Washington University Pain Centre, is also a Professor of Anesthesiology, states that their ultimate goal was to use this technology to treat pain and provide a switch to turn off the pain signals before they tend to reach the brain. The researchers had implanted the micro-LEDs in mice, whose nerve cells were hereditarily adapted to be sensitive to light.

Understand – Sensory Information Process in Spinal Cord

The indication was that on activating the light on these nerve cells it could trigger pain or block it. For research purpose, the medical LED devices were surgically implanted in mice to have light sensitive proteins on some of their nerve cells. In order to assess if this worked or not, the scientists directed the mice through a maze and when they walked through a selected area in the maze, the wireless device lit up and activated the pain pathways of their nerve cells, causing them some discomfort.

However, when the mouse left the area, the light cut off and instantly the mouse learned to avoid the painful part of the maze. The scientists now know that the micro-LED works and will continue to test ways of understanding better on how sensory information is processed in the spinal cord.

Ultimately they desiredto develop a device which could turn off pain totally in human beings. MIT Technology Review reports that researchers are hoping their findings will someday enable the doctors to control how a patient experiences pain and ease discomfort with the precise flip of a switch.

How IT Outsourcing can Benefit Your Small Business

For any small business to succeed whether it sells a product or service online or in a brick and mortar storefront, it needs up-to-the minute IT services to stay ahead of the game. You may require upgrading of hardware and software as well as online security but don’t have the capital to hire a dedicated IT employee. Companies such as Acora and others focus only on giving large or small businesses IT support. A dedicated IT team can customize its service to suit your business objectives, so you can focus on your sales and operations and not worry about your IT support.

The Main Benefits

The most important benefit of IT outsourcing is it allows the company’s managers to focus on customers and operations without splitting their time taking care of IT problems. This can also be solved by hiring a network administrator, but this means another salary and benefits that a small business may not be able to afford. In order to pay for this, the company may have to pass the extra expense on to customers. When a small business outsources its IT, it has a better chance to competitively price its product or service, and it gets top-level IT service that puts it on par with large enterprises.

Any business big or small can save money by outsourcing its IT operations. It is a good way to control capital outlay, especially for start-ups. This frees capital that the managers can funnel into the company.
Technology changes practically overnight and a professional IT service will be able to implement new technology quickly into your business. It has the facilities and expertise because that is its main focus. Experience is much more valuable to you than qualification. It may take weeks or months for an in-house IT employee to learn about the latest advances, and upgrade your operations. A professional will see the latest advances even before they arrive.

There are always risks involved with any business such as government regulations, financial conditions, markets and competition. IT services will assume and manage much of that risk for you because it has specific industry knowledge. This is especially true for security and compliance issues. It will know how to help you avoid risk in your IT operations.

Services IT Professionals Offer

If you sell products or services online, it’s especially important to have up to date security measures. Here are a few things professionals will do for your business:

• Keep your firewall up to date

• Audit your servers and workstations

• Implement PCI security standards and maintain them

• Implement payment structures such credit and debit cards

When due diligence is enacted on your IT operations by a professional IT service provider, the risks that are associated with maintaining credit card numbers, client data and sensitive competitive information will be minimized. Whenever there is software or hardware upgrades, you’ll get the required malware installed immediately, all the time saving money to focus on production or sales staff who directly drive revenue.