#Microsoft tries to thwart Google by investing in Cyanogen Windows phone still hasn set the world on fire,
so it seems Microsoft is investigating other ways to compete against Google and Apple in the mobile market.
Reports are coming in that Microsoft will participate in a round of funding for Cyanogen, Inc. the commercial enterprise that formed out of the Cyanogenmod community.
This will only give Microsoft a minority stake in the company, but this could hint at large changes for one of the largest tech companies in the world.
a few nuggets of information have come to light regarding Microsoft decision to help fund this fork of Android.
but sources claim that Microsoft will be a inority investorin Cyanogen latest round of funding (estimated at $70 million).
At the very least, this is Microsoft hedging its bets. On the other hand, maybe there more to this story.
Microsoft might just be laying the groundwork for a future without Windows phone. Cyanogen Earlier this week, Microsoft released the first stable version of Office on Android.
Similarly, the brand new mobile version of Outlook debuted on ios. Microsoft is well aware
of which way the wind is blowing, and it seems increasingly focused on delivering top-tier support to competing platforms.
Since Windows phone reportedly only has 3%of mobile marketshare, it easy to see why Redmond has shifted its priorities.
Cyanogen has been busy partnering with hardware manufacturers across the globe. Specifically, this small company is focused on expanding in emerging markets where the established players haven taken over yet.
By Strategy Analyticsaccount, roughly 37%of Android devices worldwide are using off-brand forks, so there obviously a lot of money at stake here.
If Microsoft can get a piece of that massive pie, all the better for its shareholders. With free access to Office and free upgrades to Windows 10, Microsoft is bowing to market realities.
Google docs and OS X make it increasingly difficult for Microsoft to sell its products outright. Instead money has to come from subscriptions services and support contracts.
None of that is inherently bad, but clearly the Microsoft of 2015 shows little resemblance to the Microsoft of ten or twenty years ago.
This news serves as a stark reminder that the old grey mare just ain what she used to be
#Flexible nanogenerator harvests muscle movement to power mobile devices The consumer world is becoming powered by mobile devices,
What if you could generate power for your mobile devices simply by moving your body, and the power source was almost unnoticeable?
this type of generator could remove the need for batteries in certain mobile devices your smartwatch
Who knows one day this type of generator could even generate enough energy to power your smartphone,
which is one of the biggest constraints to smartphone development and design o
#USB 3. 1 shows big gains over USB 3. 0 early tests indicate USB 3. 1 was a hot topic at CES this year,
with multiple vendors talking up the standard performance and new, reversible connector. Shipping hardware is still some months away,
but early performance data is looking solid particularly given that third-party controllers tend to improve over time.
and Asmedia to benchmark USB 3. 1 and compare it against third-party solutions from VIA as well as Intel own native solution.
but many metrics are quite impressive particularly comparing random read performance at queue depth 32 between the USB 3. 1 Asmedia and native Intel USB 3. 0 performance.
which does quite well here, USB 3. 1 is 27%faster. Compared to Intel, it 1. 7 times faster.
In real-world file copy tests, the Asmedia USB 3. 1 controller completes the work in 75%of the time it takes the Intel integrated USB 3. 0 controller and half the time of the VIA solution.
Intel has demonstrated solutions capable of up to 800mb/s in RAID connected via USB 3. 1;
Anandtech early hardware hit 650-700mb/s in analogous testing. Generally speaking, Intel controllers tend to outperform third party controllers for a given standard,
but they also tend to ship later and it not clear when Intel will add USB 3. 1. Looking back to USB 3. 0,
Intel was remarkably late to add direct chipset support for the new standard it took the company three years to deploy its own USB 3. 0 solution after the first motherboards shipped with third-party controllers in 2009.
At the time, it was believed widely that Intel dragged its feet on USB 3. 0 hoping to replace it with Thunderbolt as the mainstream peripheral interconnect on most devices
but that never materialized. Intel has yet to announce when it might add USB 3. 1 support
and AMD hasn announced it either, but I expect a similar third-party support situation to evolve.
Companies like Via, Renesas, Marvell, and Asmedia will add the capability first, with integrated chipsets following after.
What more interesting, at least to me, is improved what storage performance could eventually mean for the venerable SATA connection.
Currently, most motherboards sport an array of 4-12 SATA ports, but features like M. 2 and msata allow for an SSD to be integrated directly on the motherboard.
Combine this option with fast external storage and youe got a set of solutions that could obviate the need for SATA ports at all or,
Right now that a nonstarter USB 3. 1 doesn support features like TRIM but in the long run, USB 3. 1, future iterations of Thunderbolt,
and PCI Express-based storage directly on-motherboard could eliminate most of the need for internal storage cabling at all t
and the modern smartphone. On the other hand, lithium-ion limitations are the reason why most EVS have a range of 40-60 miles, the Model S costs upwards of $80, 000,
and why your smartphone can last all day on a single charge. For all its promise and capability
#New microprocessor claims 10x energy improvement As power consumption has become one of the most important metrics of CPU design,
wee seen a variety of methods proposed for lowering CPU TDP. Intel makes extensive use of dynamic voltage
and frequency scaling, ARM has big. Little, and multiple companies are researching topics like near threshold voltage (NTV) scaling as well as variable precision for CPU and GPU operations.
Now, one small embedded company, Ambiq Micro, is claiming to have made a breakthrough in CPU design by building a chip designed for subthreshold voltage operation with dramatic results.
Ambiq new design strategy could be critical to the long-term evolution of the wearables market the Internet of things,
and for embedded computing designs in general if the company technology approach can scale to address to a wide range of products.
Subthreshold and near-threshold voltage operation The threshold voltage of a transistor is the voltage point required to create a conducting path between the source and drain terminals.
The eye will tend to combine the two shades into a single perceived hue this fact is used widely in Twisted Nematic (TN) monitors to produce simulated 8-bit color using fast 6-bit panels.
Red 250 the monitor will alternate between Red 246 and Red 254. Flip between these two shades quickly enough
While there still a vast gulf between even a high-powered embedded chip like the Cortex-M4 and a Cortex-A7 smartphone class CPU, the only way to close that gap is to continue to push embedded performance per watt
or if it can boost higher-end hardware is still unknown, but approaches like this could revolutionize embedded hardware
and make all-day smartwatch battery life a reality in the long run t
#Lasers create surface so hydrophobic that water bounces off like a ball In the study of hydrophobic surfaces,
lectronic data from a computer are converted into multiple electrical currents; by applying stronger or weaker currents to the light within the phase shifter, the number of electrons within each light path changeshich, in turn,
the individual array beams combining coherently in the air to form a single light beam and a spot on the screen. herefore, thanks to the complexity of the task at hand,
and manipulating neural hardware in the ventricular system of the brain. Of the 1700ml or so available space in our skull, 1400ml of that is the brain itself, 150ml is for the blood,
history, and medications are available instantly on the robot display for reference. Terapio can recognize possible allergies and potentially dangerous medication interactions.
the display shows the robot ace, which offers a friendly smile and can change the shape of the eyes to convey emotion.
and e-ink displays. So far, the team has created only a proof-of-concept device,
As stated, the device works off electrophoretic principles, the phenomena behind e-ink/e-paper displays,
It is common in e-ink displays to use sub-pixels (i e. multiple electrodes to do some fancy charged transport),
Well, the basic technology is similar to that in electronic display devices. The challenge for the the team from the university,
as well as smartphone and tablet displays. However, LEDS are created using organic materials that can be costly for researchers.
has made also already its mark in the TV industry. Sony worked with Quantum dot supplier QD Vision to produce its own QD TVS in 2013 under the riluminouslabel,
if computers have become more mobile and flexible batteries should become more flexible, too. Arizona State university and China Jinan University have teamed up to create
The goal behind stretchable batteries is to create mobile computing devices that are fully flexible devices that need not sacrifice elegance for functionality Flexible batteries will allow devices to become thinner, lighter,
It began with a computer simulation of a particular crystalline compound of titanium and sulfur what if it could be made in a Dconformation,
University of Nebraska-Lincoln chemist Xiao Cheng Zeng found that the computer model predicted the crystals were incredibly conductive,
and in theory work as the basis for a next-generation computer processor. Happily, this purely theoretical study was supplemented by another, practical one,
What this means is that purely scientific proofs of concept like current graphene computer chips might be made fully digital
Right now, graphene lack of a useful bandgap means that graphene computers are limited to analog computation only;
applies more widely than just processors. Its achievable bandgap also makes silicon highly absorptive to incoming energy sources like photons,
is that there was only a few months needed to take this purely theoretical 2d substance from a computer simulation to practical, working transistors.
could allow truly advances in computer processors. And combining graphene power efficiency with silicon current ability to soak up solar radiation could have an even bigger impact.
The two most serious threats are illuminated inside the car on an LCD display. This is Ford take on infrared night vision systems that now employ algorithms to detect people and animals,
then shine a light on them if theye a likely hazard (on or along the side of the roadway).
Most users still don like how you can tell a phone, irections to address and the phone knows what to do,
but that the address entry process takes more time with far costlier car navigation c
and instead looked to make the light conform to the panels. They created an all-new hybrid material that takes two photons of 980-nanometer infrared light shone onto it and p convertsthem into one photon of 550-nanometer orange yellow light.
and land use costs than in the panels themselves; adding a new layer of this IR-capturing material would certainly increase panel costs,
but could still improve the affordability of solar power. Infrared radiation accounts for an enormous amount of the energy in direct sunlight,
Automated nano-printing is coming into its own DNA is referred often to as a uilding blockfor life,
Every edge in the computer wire-frame ends up represented by a self-contained double helix in the final molecules,
and thus the newly advanced shaping algorithms, but once made they have a much better ability to actually go to work in the body.
The automation on display here has been called a 3d printing solution for DNA, and in terms of ease of use that label certainly fits.
All they need to do is have their algorithms design a set of DNA molecules coded
#Indian-Origin researcher uses Wi-fi to power camera In a first such demonstration, an Indian-origin researcher has developed a system that uses Wi-fi Internet signals to beam power to remote
the system is known as power-over-Wi-fi. The idea is simple in concept. Wi-fi radio broadcasts are a form of energy that a simple antenna can pick up.
Until now, Wi-fi receivers have all been designed to harvest the information that these broadcasts carry. Talla simply connected an antenna to a temperature sensor
placed it close to a Wi-fi router and measured the resulting voltages in the device and for how long it can operate on the remote power source alone.
Even more ambitiously, the team also connected a camera to their antenna. This was a low-power sensor capable of producing 174×144 pixel black and white images,
The images were stored in a 64kb random access memory (RAM. In the subsequent tests, the camera performed remarkably well. he battery-free camera can operate up to about five meters from the router,
with an image capture every 35 minutes, Talla told MIT Technology Review. By adding a rechargeable battery,
The router could even power the camera through a brick wall, demonstrating that it would be possible to attach the device outside
we charge a Jawbone device in the vicinity of the power-over-Wi-fi router from a no-charge state to 41 percent charged state in 2. 5 hours,
According to the MIT report, power-over-Wi-fi could be the enabling technology that finally brings the nternet of Thingsto life.
Camera Over Wi-fi Signals, Internet of things, Power-over-WI-FI, University of Washington, Vamsi Talla, Wi-fi, Wi-fi Router i
Each nti-bacterial, sweat-proofpair features a Bluetooth wireless connection and offers more than four hours of battery life.
Each nti-bacterial, sweat-proofpair features a Bluetooth wireless connection and offers more than four hours of battery life.
#Indian-origin scientist Manu Prakash develops computer that operates on water droplets A computer that operates using the unique physics of moving water droplets has been developed by an Indian-origin scientist and his team.
The computer is nearly a decade in the making, incubated from an idea that struck Manu Prakash, an assistant professor of bioengineering at Stanford university,
The work combines his expertise in manipulating droplet fluid dynamics with a fundamental element of computer science an operating clock. n this work,
The droplet computer can theoretically perform any operation that a conventional electronic computer can crunch, although at significantly slower rates. e already have digital computers to process information.
or to operate word processors on this, Prakash said. ur goal is to build a completely new class of computers that can precisely control
and manipulate physical matter. magine if when you run a set of computations that not only information is processed
but physical matter is manipulated algorithmically as well. We have made just this possible at the mesoscale Prakash said.
allowing observation of computation as it occurs in real time. The presence or absence of a droplet represents the 1s and 0s of binary code,
and the clock ensures that all the droplets move in perfect synchrony, and thus the system can run virtually forever without any errors.
Prakash said the most immediate application might involve turning the computer into a high-throughput chemistry and biology laboratory.
and the droplet computer offers unprecedented control over these interactions. PTITAGS: Indian-origin scientists, Manu Prakash, Manu Prakash scientist, Manu Prakash wor
#Facebook can now detect and identify your face, even if it hidden Indeed Facebook is watching over you.
Intelligent algorithms can now spot you with fervour as much as investigation authorities in their hunt for criminals.
Turns out, Facebook new set of face recognition algorithms are so effective, they can detect people
and identify them even if their face isn entirely visible. According to a report in the News Scientist, Modern face-recognition algorithms are so good theye already found their way into social networks, shops and even churches.
Yann Lecun, head of artificial intelligence at Facebook wanted to see they could be adapted to recognise people in situations where someone face isn clear,
something humans can already do quite well. he report adds, here are a lot of cues we use.
a tool like this could lend a hand in a photo app like Facebook Moments
or even Google revamped Photos software. However, it also raises privacy questions when you can be identified in a snapshot
Facebook algorithm is pretty good too, identifying people with an 83 percent success rate in tests,
if it makes its way into the social network photo galleries in the future. nnovation is always welcome.
and concerns users have. For good reason. being pointed out from a group by a stranger isn a great feeling.
and ensure user privacy is respected. Tags: CEO Mark Zuckerberg, face recognition, Facebook, facial recognition algorithm, Mark Zuckerberg, privacy, Yann Lecu Z
#Google, Intel and Tata partner on rural internet initiative for women A digitally connected India will bring remendous powerin the hands of citizens by connecting them to the rest of the world,
Ratan Tata said on Friday, lauding the government Digital India programme. delighted that the Prime minister has decided to give so much preference
Tata said in Mumbai at the launch of an initiative to deepen Internet usage among rural women.
has tied up with Google and Intel to help women access the Internet in large numbers under this initiative. nternet will help educate India,
will give access to livelihood to many women who do not have a formal livelihood,
Reminiscing how people were forced to wait for up to 10 years to get a phone connection during his childhood
Tata said deeper penetration of the phone has empowered the entire population now. Benefits in terms of finding one identity, self-respect and access to knowledge because of the phone are said nbelievable he.
Executives from Google said even though growth in women users is outpacing that of men in urban areas,
women account for only a tenth of the total rural Internet users. Under the Internet Saathi programme, 1, 000 specially designed bicycles having connected devices will give villagers an experience of Internet over a period of four to six months.
The initiative aims to cover 4 500 villages over the next 18 months, starting with Gujarat, Rajasthan and Jharkhand and targets to reach out to about 500,000 women a
#New computerised learning system can spot irony and sarcasm in text messages and emails A new computerised learning system spots emotional sentiments, such as sarcasm and irony,
in text messages and emails and it could even detect content that suggests suicidal ideations.
Eden Saig, a computer science student at the Technion-Israel Institute of technology in Israel, developed the computerised learning system
which works by recognising repeated word patterns. Saig developed the system at the Technion Learning and Reasoning Laboratory,
after taking a course in artificial intelligence supervised by Professor Shaul Markovich, of the Technion Faculty of Computer science.
According to Saig voice tone and inflections play an important role in conveying one meaning in verbally communicated message.
In text and email messages, those nuances are lost and writers who want to signify sarcasm, sympathy or doubt have taken to using images,
Recently, pages intended to be humourous on social networks such as Facebook and Twitter were titled uperior and condescending people,
or rdinary and sensible people. uch pages are very popular in Israel, said Saig, and users are invited to submit suggestions for phrases that can be labelled as tereotypical sayings, for that particular page.
By observing posts to these groups, Saig identified existing patterns. The method he developed enables the system to detect future patterns on any social network.
Since the content in these sections was colloquial, everyday language, Saig realised that, he content could provide a good database for collecting homogeneous data that could, in turn,
or slang words and phrases in text. aig applied achine-Learningalgorithms to the content on these pages and used the results to automatically identify stereotypical behaviours found every day in social network communication.
The quantification was carried out by examining 5, 000 posts on social media pages and, through statistical analysis, gearing a learning system to recognise content structure that could be identified as condescending or slang.
or caring sentiments and can even send a text message to the user if the system thinks the post may be said arrogant
#Cooler computers, smartphones using graphene film Almost half of the total energy used in running a computer goes in cooling it down.
such as highly Efficient light Emitting Diode lasers and radio frequency components for cooling purposes, Liu said. raphene-based film could also pave the way for faster,
#Wireless power transfer now lets you charge mobile phones from a distance Now, you won have to look for a socket to charge your phone or a laptop.
Researchers have developed a wireless power transfer (WPT) technology that can charge mobile phones from a distance. The WPT technology developed by researchers at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) works just as Wi-fi works for Internet connections.
It allows mobile devices to be charged at any location and in any direction, even if the devices are away from the power source.
With this technology your device will automatically get charged without being tethered to a charger if you are designated in the area where the charging is available,
like the Wi-fi Power zone, the researchers said. The system can charge multiple devices simultaneously
and in all directions up to half a metre away from the power source, said lead researcher professor Chun T. Rim.
all wireless-charging technologies have had difficulties with the problem of short charging distance, mostly less than 10 cm,
For example, the Samsung galaxy S6 could only be charged wirelessly in a fixed position, having one degree of freedom. ur transmitter system is safe for humans and compatible with other electronic devices.
#Facebook solar-powered Internet drone Aquila is ready for real-world testing In its latest announcement,
Facebook reveals to have completed building its first full-scale drone, Aquila, that aims at providing Internet access to the most remote parts of the world.
Aquila is powered a solar unmanned plane that beams down internet connectivity from the sky. It has the wingspan of a Boeing 737,
Facebook has announced also what it call a reakthroughin laser communications technology. The company claims to have tested successfully a new laser that can transmit data at 10 gigabits per second. hat ten times faster than any previous system,
Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post. The plane will weigh about 880 pounds (400 kg),
Separately, Facebook a year ago launched Internet. org, an initiative to provide Internet access to the two-thirds of the world that do not have a reliable connection including India.
Parikh said Facebook is not planning to sell the drones but will use them to expand Internet access.
Although Facebook does not immediately face policy or legal hurdles in testing its drone in the United states,
Aquila drone, Drone, Drone testing, Facebook, Internet drone, Internet drone testin
#Facebook solar-powered Aquila, Internet-beaming drone, ready for real-world testing In its latest announcement, Facebook reveals to have completed building its first full-scale drone, Aquila, that aims at providing Internet access
to the most remote parts of the world. The drone is now ready for real-world testing
Aquila is powered a solar unmanned plane that beams down internet connectivity from the sky. It has the wingspan of a Boeing 737,
Facebook has announced also what it call a reakthroughin laser communications technology. The company claims to have tested successfully a new laser that can transmit data at 10 gigabits per second. hat ten times faster than any previous system,
Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post. The plane will weigh about 880 pounds (400 kg),
Separately, Facebook a year ago launched Internet. org, an initiative to provide Internet access to the two-thirds of the world that do not have a reliable connection including India.
Parikh said Facebook is not planning to sell the drones but will use them to expand Internet access.
Although Facebook does not immediately face policy or legal hurdles in testing its drone in the United states,
#Facebook solar-powered Aquila, Internet-beaming drone, ready for real-world testing In its latest announcement, Facebook reveals to have completed building its first full-scale drone, Aquila, that aims at providing Internet access
Aquila is powered a solar unmanned plane that beams down internet connectivity from the sky. It has the wingspan of a Boeing 737,
Facebook has announced also what it call a reakthroughin laser communications technology. The company claims to have tested successfully a new laser that can transmit data at 10 gigabits per second. hat ten times faster than any previous system,
Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post. The plane will weigh about 880 pounds (400 kg),
Separately, Facebook a year ago launched Internet. org, an initiative to provide Internet access to the two-thirds of the world that do not have a reliable connection including India.
Parikh said Facebook is not planning to sell the drones but will use them to expand Internet access.
Although Facebook does not immediately face policy or legal hurdles in testing its drone in the United states,
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