LG G Flex

LG has announced a new Smartphone that is taking the industry by storm. It is called the LG G Flex, and this is no ordinary phone. This new phone has a coating on the back cover that allows it to self-heal, excluding the screen.  One actually sees the phone fix its scratches.  The phone is made with a material coating that will remove light scratches that are inflicted onto it. It will make scratches nearly invisible, paving the way for new features in Smartphone’s.  The phone itself has a very glossy and smooth texture.  

The phone heals much faster at warmer temperatures and only takes a few minutes.  In LG’s advertisement, they used a control temperature of 81 degrees Fahrenheit.  At colder temperatures the scratches are not removed as quickly.  A person may rub the phone to generate heat and speed up the healing time if it is colder out. Light scratches, for the most part, are completely removed.  Deep scratches do not get fully removed.  They will improve about fifty percent, but are still present and become much less noticeable.

Besides the scratch removing capability, G Flex also has another feature that no other Smartphone has.  It is actually bendable.  The phone itself is curved in stature, but it has the capability to be bent straight.  This helps to minimize damage if the phone is dropped for high places.  This is also where the G Flex gets its name, because it has a slight flexible capability. 

Besides its healing and flexible features, the phone includes all the same features most Smartphone’s have. It has a 6 inch screen and weighs 6.24 ounces.  It also has Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLED) that provides brighter and better lighting.  This allows the phone to use less power than conventional displays. Currently, the phone has not yet been released for sale in the United States.  It was released in South Korea in November. Currently, the phone cots over a thousand dollars overseas, but imported units have been available in the United States.  To see this phones amazing new capabilities watch the video below.  It demonstrates the phones healing properties by scratching it with keys and a knife.  It also demonstrates the phones new flexible feature. Keep any eye out for this phone to be released. I am sure more brands will try to copy the LG G Flex’s new capabilities that are changing the industry. 

By: Jacob Ludwig (Extra)

Potential Artificial Blood Found in Sea Worms

The discovery of an artificial blood could save lives all around the world.  Since human blood is in short supply, many scientists have been looking for an artificial blood solution.  Romanian scientists are on a great path to discovering a blood substitute. Most researchers have been focusing on artificial hemoglobin to carry oxygen through the body.  The problem is that these artificial substances counteract with other body chemicals and cannot handle stress. The artificial hemoglobin then becomes toxic and deadly to the host’s body.

Doctor Radu Silaghi-Dumitrescu and his research team from Romania said they have found a substitute that does not have these toxic side effects.  They experimented with a substance called hemerythrin, which is extracted from sea worms.  Hemerythrin is much more resistant to chemical agents in our blood and, in turn, makes it much safer.  There artificial blood is made strictly of hemerythrin, water, and salts.  It also does not have a red color; it is a slightly translucent yellow. The hemerythrin, which is a protein, is successful in transporting oxygen and does so in many invertebrates. If it works for them it may work for humans.  

So far, the Romanian researchers have been successful with using this artificial blood on vertebrates. They have conducted studies on mice where they have used the artificial blood in the animals.  The results were spectacular. They survived and had no side effects.  Another benefit of hemerythrin is that it has an unlimited shelf life and it does not need to be refrigerated.   It is mixed with water and creates an instant artificial blood.  Human blood on the other hand only lasts a month and is then expired.

This new artificial blood will last anywhere from a few hours up to an entire day.  As of now, the focus is to developing this hemerythrin blood is to be used for  trauma victims or during surgeries where severe blood loss occurs. The idea of this blood substitute is that the victim’s body should continue to make blood.  By the time the substitute blood no longer works, the person should have made enough blood to be sustained. The scientists hope to conduct human trials within two years. Their goal is that the clinical trials well be deemed successful and will be conducted on human volunteers.  If they are successful this will completely change the medical industry, and this artificial blood can help save lives. 

By Jacob Ludwig

Google Tattoo Microphones

Google has once again brought to us another potential innovation. Recently Google patented a new technology involving a microphone embedded within a tattoo on ones neck. Such a new technology will act as another attachment to ones smart phone, or other wireless device.

This new technology stretches further than just personal use. Mentioned in a article by Matt Hamblen with tech hive, the technology can be used as a lie detector and even as a tool for scientific research of an animal in its natural environment by recording sounds and adding a video attachment.

A huge disadvantage to this technology, is the moral standpoint. We will have to question whether or not it is ethical to implement tattoo microphones. Future or altered incarnations of the technology could allow people to be tracked, or listened to by others. We will have to guarantee the technology is secure, and will not place anybody into any possible danger.

We have gone from bulky cell phones, to thinner cell phones, smart phones, to the usage of devices (including smart phones) on a variety of different platforms. The new technology will not necessarily replace our current ones, as it requires to be paired with a matching phone, or smart device. This technology, however, will most certainly be a curiosity, until the every day person decides whether or not they want a microphone printed within a tattoo on their neck.




Source:
http://www.techhive.com/article/2062428/google-wants-tattoos-to-act-as-smartphone-microphones.html
posted by TL

Replacing Credit Card with mobile payment

I found an interesting article on yahoo about mobile payments replacing cash and credit card payments. The article talks about why mobile payments should replace cash and credit card. Cash and checks are the most secure forms of payment. Most people prefer to use them.  But, there are some problems with them.  For example, check transaction process is slow. It will take two to three days to clear check. Carrying large amounts of money in your pocket is not convenient.   But, it is still considered us the most secure forms of payment.  Currently, technology is changing our day to day lives. Many people in the world are using mobile phones than credit cards. 

Are mobile payments replace credit and cash payment? At this moment, I don’t think so.  May be in a few years, we might see many people using digital payment than traditional payment.  In my opinion, as long as information is encrypted and data is secured, digital payment is the most efficient way of processing transaction.  Not only consumers and businesses benefited from mobile payments but government can save millions of dollars on printing paper money. I don’t know how many of you know how much it costs to produce currency and coin. According to the Federal Reserve Board, one dollar bill costs 5.6 cents to produce. 

Currently, big companies like Google are experimenting with this idea. For example Google wallet enables any credit or debit card registered with Google Wallet service to be used for payment at merchants that have payment terminals equipped with near field communications (NFC) or contactless card readers. Some convenience stores like Cumberland Farms are currently using mobile payment technology. Cumberland Farm allows customer to pay for gas at the pump using their smart phone. Every time they use, they get 10 cent discount on every gallon of gas they pay.

Here is how it works

Go to the pump and lunch the app from your smart phone. Tab the button labeled “Pay for gas.” Then a login screen appears and asks you to enter your pin. Next, you are asked to enter the pump number. The good thing about these apps is that every time you use the smart phone, it requires you to enter your login credentials. Once you done filling your tank, the app tell you how much money you saved. It also tells you your cumulative saving over time.

Source Yahoo

AW

A Cure to Long-Term Memory Loss?

Theodor Berger

One of the new technological developments of 2013 has been the idea of memory implants.  Theodor Berger, a biomedical engineer and neuroscientist, wants to create a way to restore severe memory loss.  Severe memory loss can occur form Alzheimer’s, strokes, or injuries to the brain.  After 24 years of research he developed silicon chips to repeat the signals neurons give off.  By implanting these chips in the brain, he believes that him and his team may be able to restore the ability to remember.

To Mr. Berger, memories are electrical pulses that are generated by a number of neurons. He primarily focuses on the hippocampus part of the brain and tries to create a chip to serve as the hippocampus.  He tried his theory on live rats.  He first trained these rats to push one of two levers to receive a treat.  While doing this, he recorded the pulses from their hippocampus.  He and his team then captured a code (from the pulses) they thought was the memory for receiving the treat.  The rats where then given a drug to interfere with their long-term memory.  In turn, the rats forgot which lever resulted in a treat. Once his team pulsed the code into the rat’s brain they were able to pick the correct lever again.

After this successful test, an experiment was done on monkeys in a similar fashion.  This time the task was to recognize an image.   Once the monkeys were implanted with the right code their performance improved on identifying the image.  Within the next two years, Mr. Berger and his team want to conduct studies by actually implanting memory prosthesis (an artificial part) in animals.  They hope their chips can form long-term memories in a number of settings.  One obstacle that stands in his way is if the pulse codes are not generalizable.  In this case, his chips would only be limited to producing memories for a few situations.

 

Besides this obstacle, Mr. Berger and his team are planning human studies.  He currently works at the University of Southern California. Clinicians there are testing the use of electrodes on the brain to see if they can detect and prevent seizures on patients with epilepsy.  If this project is successful, Mr. Berger and his team hope to work with them on looking at the memory codes within these patient’s brains.   With this new research, Mr. Berger hopes to one day help people who have suffered severe memory damage regain the ability to hold memories.

 By Jacob Ludwig

 

 

New Innovations: Low-level APIs for games, and GPUs with dedicated Audio

Advanced Micro Devices,  a leading innovator in CPU (Central Processing Unit) and GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) technology is set to unleash their next generation of graphics card sometime between this fall and this spring. Their new innovations besides the usual Direct X version refresh involves the introduction of a technology labeled AMD TrueAudio. With this generation of cards AMD is also releasing their own Graphics API namely, Mantle, to give programmers more control of their graphical applications.

AMDs new marketing model for these next generation graphics cards holds a  R followed by # to designate the card's class. R5, will be the entry level cards; R7 Gaming; lastly R9 to represent enthusiast level graphics cards. In the past each lower class would lack features, while each progressing class added additional features. This is still true, except for AMD TrueAudio, since each class will have cards that include TrueAudio and cards that do not have TrueAudio.

TrueAudio, is AMDs attempt at the first graphics card within recent years to include dedicated sound components at the hardware and software level. AMD TrueAudio will reduce the load from the Central Processing Unit, and allow the graphics card to process the audio, and even position it, improving overall performance.

AMD's other new innovation is Mantle, a low-level API. Before progressing, lets touch up on current Generation APIs. While Direct 3D and Open GL are already great APIs, they are optimized as mostly an at the upper-level. The idea behind mantle is that it is a low-level API, allowing programmer to have more control of their games and graphical programs as lower level is closer to the hardware level. 

Mantle also has potential in the game console market, as opposed to exclusively the computer market.
Both upcoming generation game consoles, such as the Playstation 4 and Xbox One are to include AMD graphics, and are also rumored to implement mantle in numerous titles to improve the overall performance in titles utilizing the new API.

Source:  AMD Unveals Next-Generation Radeon Graphics Cards, On-GPU Audio Processing, Proprietary Mantle API.
TL

Face Book removed the setting that keeps you unsearchable by name

Facebook has been very important part of our life. Popularity of this social network is increasing. More people around the world are using Facebook than any other social network.  It is one of the best social networks to communicate and socialize with families and friends.  Currently, privacy concern with this social network is increasing.

Last Thursday, Facebook announced that it is removing a private setting that allows users to hide their profile information from strangers. This setting is used by the users to decide whether they want other people to search them by name or not.  Now, Facebook eliminate this setting. Anyone can search you even if you don’t want to be found. The only option you have right now is to block the person. Otherwise any one can search you by typing your name into the search bar.

From now on, all users will be searchable on Facebook. No hiding any more. Here are some of the things you should do to protect yourself.

Revisit your private setting

Use the View As feature to see what information is visible to the public, your friends and families.

To find the View as feature, go to your profile and click the gear icon at the bottom of your cover photo. Click the “View us” then at the top of your profile, click “View as a Specific Person”.  In the searching bar, type the names of friends to view your profile as they see it.

If you find information you want to remove, visit your Activity Log. Use the timeline slider on the right and the menu on the left to find the post you want to edit, then click the pencil icon or the privacy setting drop-down list to make changes.

To hide past post, click on private setting then under the first option – “Who can see my stuff”, click “limit past posts” and enable the option.

My final advice is that don’t always rely only on Facebook private setting. I know Facebook has a very good private setting, but they are changing their private setting every time.  The reason I am saying this is that I see many people putting their personal information like address, birthday, and phone on Facebook.  I don’t think it is smart and safe to put this information on Facebook.  Don’t expect Facebook to protect your privacy. Do it by yourself. Don’t put sensitive information online.

Source InformationWeek

AW