Showing posts with label New Tech. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New Tech. Show all posts

Saturday, 17 August 2013

SOCCKET: The Ball that Charges Electronic Devices


Co-founders of Uncharted play, Nigerian Jessica Matthews and Julia Silverman were Harvard undergraduates when they first invented SOCCKET. A soccer ball that doubles as a charger for small electronic devices like LED lamps, cell phones, and even hot plates. 

Amazingly, 30 minutes of play with SOCCKET can yield up to 3 hours of light. The inventors were inspired by the time they spent in developing countries, where they watched local youth play soccer games. The ball is designed to appeal to kids while helping families who don't have safe power sources in their homes. 

The SOCCKET is a portable generator in the form of a durable soccer ball. It works by harnessing the kinetic energy generated by playing with the ball, it then stores this power for later use.

Now the entrepreneurs are busy distributing the balls in countries ranging from South Africa to Argentina.
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Struggling Blackberry Ltd considers sale



Struggling smartphone maker Blackberry Ltd said on Monday that it had set up a committee to review its options. This created a debate over whether the company is more valuable as a whole or snapped up piece by piece by competitors or private investors.

Blackberry who once enjoyed the stock market has suffered in the hands of Apple Inc. and phones using Google Inc’s Android operating system, and its blackberry 10 smartphones did not attract enough consumers. Its share price which peaked at C$150 (Canadian dollar) in 2008 was now left at C$11.3 as at Monday. Blackberry’s market capitalization also fell form $80 billion in 2008 to the more recent $5.4 billion.

Wednesday, 14 August 2013

“Hyperloop” transportation system to move at 700mph

To those who hate long journeys, there is a glimmer of hope as big time South African born American entrepreneur Elon Musk plans on developing Hyperloop, a vacuum-like tube that will ferry passengers through 350 miles in just 35 minutes (speed: 700mph)


On Monday Musk unveiled details about the project which aims at developing these vacuum-like capsules (more images after the cut) which are faster than most commercial airliners and slightly less than speed of sound (768mph).

China’s Maglev Train believed to be the world’s fastest travels at a top speed of 311mph meaning it will take about 1hr 20 minutes to do the same journey Hyperloop will do in 30 minutes.

Apple to unveil new iPhone next month



iPhone lovers should ready their pockets against next month as report says Apple will unveil its latest version of iPhone come September 10.

The phone is likely to be called either iPhone 6 or iPhone 5S. It will run iOS 7, the latest version of Apple’s mobile operating system which comes loaded with new typography, redesigned icons and new colour palettes. The phone will also have a fingerprint scanner for added security and other uses

As usual the phone will have a higher processor, longer battery life, and an improved camera. The upcoming Apple event is perfectly timed as the tech giant struggles to maintain its domination of the smartphone and tablet market.

All these are rumours and Apple can decide to spring a few surprises.

Thursday, 8 August 2013

Ability to perceive mind surfaces in robots



A robot is being tested for its ability to track the mental states of others. Known as theory of mind this gives humans many sophisticated traits, including empathy and deception.

Robots have demonstrated theory of mind before but iCub (a pearly white humanoid) is different. Last week, at the Living Machines conference in London, researchers revealed that it is the first robot to acquire theory of mind without specific programming. "This all emerged," says Peter Dominey, leader of the research team.

Monday, 5 August 2013

Blackberry messenger for android testing started!


For those android and iphone  users who are patiently waiting for the release of famous blackberry messenger BBM, you might not wait much longer as Blackberry says that it has begun internal testing of the BBM app on Android, destined for those that employees have chosen (friends or family). Those people will receive an email allowing them to sign up for BBM and install it on any Android phone running Ice Cream Sandwich or higher. Unfortunately, all the tester slots are full, so there is no way to sign up for it at the moment.

Sunday, 28 July 2013

High profile hacker Barnaby Jack dies a week before hacking convention



Phenomenal computer hacker, Barnaby Jack was on Thursday found dead at an apartment in Nob Hill neighbourhood of San Francisco.
 Many have been celebrated for several impressive acts, for New Zealand born 35 year old Barnaby, his talent lies in hacking. He was one of the world’s most famous “white hat” hackers – those who use their hacking skills to find security loopholes before criminals can exploit them.

Friday, 26 July 2013

Teeth Sensor knows when you're lying



A sensor inserted in a tooth could one day tell doctors when people have defied medical advice to give up smoking or eat less. Built into a tiny circuit board that fits in a tooth cavity, the sensor includes an accelerometer that sends data on mouth motion to a smartphone.

Thursday, 25 July 2013

Google Announces Android 4.3



The android world keeps blooming as Google officially announced its new version of Android yesterday. The latest version of android is minor upgrade of the existing Android 4.2 Jelly bean OS, it brings restricted profiles, and a bunch of other performance enhancements

Expectedly, the Android 4.3 Jelly Bean OS will first be available on Google’s new upgraded Nexus 7, Samsung galaxy Nexus, Nexus 4, and Nexus 10. The update is expected to start rolling out today.

The latest Android will later be seeded to Google Play after its initial appearance in the Nexus line-up, although no time frame has been set for that

Google Nexus 7 tablet upgraded

Android Owners Google has unveiled a new version of its trendy Nexus 7 tablet yesterday in San Francisco. 

The new tablet has its size trimmed down, while maintaining the same screen dimensions. It comes with a higher resolution of 1920 by 1200 pixels. The RAM is doubled and CPU is twice as fast. The speaker performance is also reported to have been improved. 


The device will run Android Jelly Bean 4.3, a new version of Google’s Android OS.

Wednesday, 24 July 2013

A look at the new Blackberry Q5












Released sometime in June 2013, the blackberry Q5 smart phone comes loaded with a 4G network, blackberry 10 OS which can be upgraded to 10.1, a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 3.1in LCD capacitive touch screen with 16M colours, 8 GB internal memory, NFC though it is market dependent, and a 2180mAh battery.
 
Some say the 120 gram, 5MP camera machine is better than the iPhone 4, others say it is the best blackberry phone they have used. 

What do you think about this BB that is lacking the five buttons that identifies blackberry phones (call, menu, optical trackpad, return, end call) whose battery is also non removable?

Malfunctioning Electronic voting device stops House of Reps’ Proceedings



Embracing new technology is a good thing but not when the technology is inefficient. Such is the case as the much systemised electronic voting on the constitution review report, yesterday, hindered proceedings in the House of Representatives as members adjourned to start afresh today.

Reports show that NIGCOMSAT, a government agency had volunteered to install software that would enable members vote electronically. But after installation and the distribution of Joyless powered by MTN, the device failed to work.

It was gathered that members were angry when they discovered that the device had repeatedly failed.

Tuesday, 23 July 2013

Wow! New SmartPen checks spelling as you write

Everything these days is getting smart. A prototype digital pen developed in Germany is promising to alert users to spelling errors.
Spell checker a sincerely indispensable computer tool has spared uncountable typographical errors. Lernstift (German for “learning Pen”) is an outstanding digital pen; it contains not only ink but also a tiny computer that alerts its user to spelling errors.

Facebook advised to offer a paid, ad-free version



Renowned social networking site Facebook has been advised by Twitter co-founder Biz Stone to offer an ad-free version for $10 a month.

Sunday, 21 July 2013

Eye receptor transplant, hope for the blind



The light sensing cells found in the retina have been grown from scratch in the lab, and then successfully transported to the eyes of blind mice for the first time.
The transplanted cells matured and connected with nerves that transmit visual signals to the brain successfully.

Saturday, 20 July 2013

World's largest building opens in China



The largest man-made structure in the world has opened in China's Sichuan province, housing hotels, offices, a beach resort and an artificial sun.

The New Century Global Centre in Chengdu opened its doors on 1 July 2013. Capable of housing three Pentagons in its staggering 1.7 million square-metre interior