A robot to teach children programing

 Robot toy maker Sphero has announced a robot car toy designed to teach young children the basics of programming.

It's called Sphero indi, and kids can program it using simple colored squares that fall on the ground, or a mobile app as kids develop their programming skills.

And Sphero indi uses a color sensor on the underside of the pickup to check which square it is driving over, with a green square telling it to speed up, a pink square telling it to turn left, a purple square telling it to stop and celebrating, etc.

To teach children how to create instructions to get the robot to move from one place to another, the game comes with cards that include patterns with missing square pieces, so the child has to know the colored square that helps the car reach its target.

And the Sphero indi robot can follow the instructions of the tiles without any kind of phone or computer connection.

And if kids are ready for more control, the Sphero Edu Jr app allows them to use a block-based language to customize vehicle behavior via simple drag-and-drop programming blocks that can be linked together to create more complex movements and behaviors.

It also increases the challenge for children with puzzles that get more difficult to solve as the child progresses, and he begins to master the concepts of software and robots that are presented.

The game helps enhance children's problem-solving skills, teaches patterns and concepts such as cause and effect, and reinforces basic kindergarten curricula, such as color.

MIT's Scratch programming language provides students with a playground to discover how computers use logic, with many exercises that involve solving puzzles and mazes using code.

The robot will not be available until September, but it can be pre-ordered in one of two groups:

$ 125 Educational Robot Student Kit, Includes 1 Robot, 20 Colorful Silicone Squares, 15 Programming Challenge Cards, and Protective Case.

The $ 1,200 Educational Robot Class Pack, designed for schools, includes eight of everything (160 silicone squares) plus a larger bag that can ship all the robots together.

It is noteworthy that robotic toys for educational purposes are nothing new, as the Cozmo robot, previously made by Anki, used the Scratch-based programming language to get children to control the little robot

The invention that will change the world

 What is the last thing they reached in the world of technology?

Reading time 00:45 «

There are many things that technological advancements have achieved in recent years in all fields, and perhaps the most prominent is the "Neuralink" segment that will change the future in a frightening way.

The chip will be installed in the brain .. The chip reads everything inside your brain’s dialect, and it will perform almost all the functions .. You will expect, plan and solve all your problems, and the place of implantation will allow it to treat many problems such as vision, hearing, memory, psychological problems and addiction ... etc. 😮

You can also communicate with the chip through your electronic devices such as the phone, and the car, and it will have a permanent development of the chip, for example there will be an upcoming development, through which you will be able to cancel any feeling that hurts you, such as feeling pain and sadness 🙄

You can also control your memories and even your dreams and store them in the form of files .. If you feel upset, you will be able to activate the memory that will make you happy.

This achievement is still under experience, but it is considered one of the most important that the human mind has reached ... 🤷‍♂️

What did you think was it possible to apply this slide in the real world? Give me your opinion in the comments ... 🏃‍♂️

Technology changes the way we access books

Technology changes the way we access books – is augmented reality a step too far?

Books and technology are not often associated. When thinking about a book the majority, if not all people, would think about the traditional type of book – words printed on paper and bound together. In fact there are many people who believe that traditional, paper books should be the only format a book should be read in. This leaves little room for technology to revolutionize the way in which books are accessed. Of course, this has not stopped technology experts from changing the way we see books. Ebooks have become incredibly popular and are, more or less, now an accepted way in which to read a book. Technology has also taken a step further and introduced augmented reality into books, giving people an interactive experience rather than merely reading words on a page. Is this a step too far? Is a book still a book if you need technology to be able to read it?  Many people think that books should be left alone and technology should not be needed or wanted. However, there are others who believe that introducing technology into how we access books is just a natural progression of how technology is used.

There has been resistance at every stage that technology has tried to change the traditional view of books. E-readers had a tendency to divide opinion when they were first unleashed on the public. Many people thought it was a fantastic idea as thousands of books could be stored and carried around on one devise which was smaller and lighter than many of the books it contained. Others however, thought it was an abomination and that it would signal the demise of the paper book.

There is no doubt that ebooks are popular. Technology has allowed reading books to become more accessible. People no longer have to limit themselves to taking one or two books on holiday with them because they cannot fit any more in their suitcase.  There also seems to be no doubt that the demand for paper books will not suddenly cease to exist. Technology simply allows people to enjoy books in a different format. Often for people who have sight problems this type of technology aids their reading. They can increase the size of the text, choose an e-reader that has the best background for them to see the text, buy a light that works on the battery so they can read in different light conditions. Allowing people the ability to read more cannot be a bad thing.

This advancement in technology has led to augmented reality being used in books. Augmented reality is arguably less about allowing people who struggle with reading a technological aid and more about making a book fun! Making what is on the page come to life is certainly a new way of accessing books. Although the majority of books do not use augmented reality and possibly never will, there is definitely a market for augmented reality books.

The obvious market for augmented reality books is children. Many children love to read and be read to but there are also a high number of children who do not enjoy it at all. Books have already changed and developed in an attempt to make them more interesting and accessible to young people and children. Pop up books are still hugely popular and there is a clear link between these types of books and augmented reality books. Traditional book lovers appear to overlook the fact that augmented reality can be used to simply bring to life the inanimate pop ups of regular pop up books. The only difference being that technology is used rather than just additional pieces of paper stuck into the book. In a technological age it can be argued that augmented reality books are the new pop up books (although their popularity is not limited to toddlers!).

The second obvious market for augmented reality books is text books. It has been discussed in previous blogs that augmented reality is phenomenal at being used to teach or train. The ability to ‘see’ something rather than just read about it makes it easier for a person to compute the information to their long term memory. Any text book could use this technology to ‘show’ readers what is being explained. For people who learn better by visualising these types of books would be valuable. For people who learn better by reading they simply do not have to access the augmented reality parts of the book.

The downside of augmented reality books is that you cannot justice one up and read it. You need to have some form of computer or app on a smartphone in order for the augmented reality features to work. This issue is likely to be resolved if and when technology like the augmented reality eyewear, such as google glass, become popular and mainstream. Putting on a pair of glasses and reading a book is less arduous than loading up a computer or reading the book whilst holding a smartphone in front of it.

The fact is that no matter what traditional book lovers believe, technology is the way forward. It is used to make processes easier, and that applies to reading books. Not only does technology make it easier to carry thousands of books around, it also makes it easier for some people to access the books. Augmented reality in particular can make books more fun and interesting as well as informative in a modern way.

When this technology becomes more mainstream it may be that traditional fiction books choose to use augmented reality in their storytelling. Traditional book lovers will no doubt exercise their right to purchase the paper version of a book and technology lovers will champion the benefits of ‘watching’ parts of the book. It will be interesting to watch the development of augmented reality in books as there is a clear argument that watching a fiction book will be no different to watching a dvd. Will the augmented reality books become the new films? It is unlikely that the film industry will be massively affected by the increase in augmented reality. However, never say never!

Leonhard Euler: Mathematician's 306th birthday

Euler is one of the most famous mathematicians of all time and he contributed a huge amount to maths. He is most famous for Euler's equation which unites 5 of the fundamental numbers in maths: e, i, pi, 1 and 0. It looks like this: 
e^(i*pi)+1=0










Leonhard Euler was one of the greatest mathematicians of all time. His numerous works (over 900 publications) in many areas had a decisive influence on the development of mathematics, an influence that is felt to this day.

Euler was born in Switzerland, in the town of Basel, on the 15th of April 1707, in the family of a pastor. At that time, Basel was one of the main centres of mathematics in Europe. At the age of 7, Euler started school while his father hired a private mathematics tutor for him. At 13, Euler was already attending lectures at the local university, and in 1723 gained his masters degree, with a dissertation comparing the natural philosophy systems of Newton and Descartes. On his father's wishes, Euler furthered his education by enrolling in the theological faculty, but devoted all his spare time to studying mathematics.

He wrote two articles on reverse trajectory which were highly valued by his teacher Bernoulli. In 1727 Euler applied for a position as physics professor at Basel university, but was turned down.

At this time a new centre of science had appeared in Europe - the Petersburg Academy of Sciences. As Russia had few scientists of its own, many foreigners were invited to work at this centre - among them Euler. On the 24th of May 1727 Euler arrived in Petersburg. His great talents were soon recognised. Among the areas he worked in include his theory of the production of the human voice, the theory of sound and music, the mechanics of vision, and his work on telescopic and microscopic perception. On the basis of this last work, not published until 1779, the construction of telescopes and microscopes was made possible.

In his study of colour effects, Euler hoped to make use of the observation of the conjunction of Venus and the moon, due to take place on the 8th of September 1729. However, no such effects were observed during this conjunction, and Euler was forced to wait for the eclipse of the sun which would take place in 1748. He observed this eclipse in Berlin, where he moved in 1741. Here he worked in the Berlin Academy of Sciences and was appointed as head of the Berlin Observatory, and was also tutor to the nieces of King Frederich II of Prussia.
Observations of the eclipse of the sun made by scientists of the day led them to believe that the moon did not contain sufficient atmosphere to provide the effects of diffraction or refraction. Only Euler was able to detect the moon's atmosphere. And in 1761, when Venus passed over the face of the sun, he detected the atmosphere of Venus.
Euler's works were not devoted solely to the natural sciences. A true renaissance man, he also involved himself in the philosophical debates of the day, and triumphantly declared himself a firm believer in the freedom of the will. Such views won him few friends in Germany, and the book in which he thus expressed himself was published for the first time in Russia, where Euler returned in 1766. Here he found many who agreed with his views, among them enemies of the views of Leibnitz and Voltaire.

In 1763 Catherine II came to the throne. She carried out reforms in the Academy of Sciences and aimed to make it a more prestigious institution. When Euler returned to Petersburg with his two elder sons they were given a two-storey house on the banks of the Neva and Euler given a position at the head of the Academy of Sciences.
At the time of his return to Petersburg Euler had already reconsidered his views on the atmosphere of planets. The work of Lomonosov and Bernoulli in this field led him to conclude that the atmosphere on the Earth and on other planets must be considerably more transparent than he had thought. Euler took a very active role in the observation of the movement of Venus across the face of the sun, despite the fact that at this time he was nearly blind. He had already lost one eye in the course of an experiment on light diffraction in 1738, and an eye disease and botched operation in 1771 led to an almost total loss of vision.

This did not, however, stop Euler's creative output. Until his death in 1783, the Academy was presented with over 500 of his works. The Academy continued to publish them for another half century after the death of the great scientist. To this day, his theories are studied and taught, and his incredibly diverse works make him one of the founding fathers of modern science.

Samsung shows off new flexible display technology

Samsung’s aiming to make smartphone tech a little less rigid with the introduction of new, flexible screens that can be used in smartphones and tablets to make them more resilient.

In the keynote presentation at the tConsumer Electronics Show, Samsung device head Stephen Woo and lab lead Brian Berkeley showed off bendable, rollable, foldable displays with several concept devices. The flexible screens, which Samsung has branded as Youm, are designed to have displays as rich and crisp as current smartphones, but with more options for form factors.

In one example, CNET noted, the screen bends around the edge of the device to display information on the side of it, similar to the information on the side of a book. More broadly, flexible screen technology could help improve the resilience of consumer technology devices and make them even more portable.

The company also showed off a number of hardware components and processors that will let its devices run faster and more powerfully, while also consuming less energy than current devices. The company’s presentation was light on details about when any of the tech would actually appear in consumer devices.

Samsung has been focused on shaking up the way that consumers look at their screens by playing with different form factors. The company also introduced an OLED television with a curved display, meant to give the set a more natural appearance.

Wednesday’s keynote also featured a few words from former president Bill Clinton, who has worked with the company’s charity efforts in the past. Clinton spoke about ways mobile technology can help address problems in the developing world.

Clinton also spoke briefly about the need for gun control in the United States as well as solutions for global climate and political problems, saying that technology can help break down barriers people construct to avoid “people who don’t agree with us,” Engadget reported. Deploying communication and processing technology — and making it available to more of the world — he said, can help bridge gaps.

What We Can Expect in Technology for Next Year in 2013

By Matt Hamlin

Technology is ever evolving and moving forward. Change is probably the best and most prominent characteristic that can be ascribed to technology, as wide and all encompassing as a term it might be. The rate of advancement that technology is exhibiting is much, much faster than any could have expected or anticipated - probably even for those who are at the forefront of its progress.

This unparalleled speed of development has been very welcome for technology enthusiasts all over the world. People who simply can't get enough of the different devices and gadgets that are being produced and released on a regular basis are enjoying something of a perfect time right now. And things are likely to only get better.

What to Expect in 2013

At the frontline of technological progress right now are the many tablets and smartphones that are constantly being improved and updated. And as amazing as those devices seem to be right now, there's every reason to believe and expect that it will only improve and get to an even better level. With 2013 almost upon us, it would be good to look at what technology has in store for us in 2013.

• Expect even faster networking. Consumers want faster networking than what is currently available to them, which is 3G and has just been made available mainstream, but is still not enough. In 2013 that would be addressed by the introduction of 4G speeds. That move will allow consumers to experience not only improvement in speed but in the range, bandwidth and roaming management as well. It is definitely an improvement of what is already available to us, so cloud networking and HD streaming would all become better.


• 3D technology will see some significant improvements. This is probably best seen in gaming, and now also in 3D TV. And with the Xbox and PlayStation about to become available, then there would even be a considerable rise in its use. More and more 3D TV's should be expected to be available, with much higher quality in its projection and in terms of the innovation in design there would also be improvements.


• Aside from 3D TV, there is also another type of TV that's also making waves and causing a sensation in the technological world. That would be the Internet TV that allows its users to interact with their TV by surfing the net, using social media, playing online games, and many more. Different kinds of companies are coming up with their very own versions of the Internet TV, so expect it to be much more common this coming year.


• We can expect tablets to go mainstream in 2013. The sensation this year had been the latest and most advanced smart phones as well tablet computers. Next year, in 2013, we can all expect upgrades in the tablets that the major companies are producing and releasing. Every company is sure to come up with their own latest tablet, with the hopes of gaining a better share of the tablet computer market for the year.

Make A Name With Google

By Ken McKay

The domain name of a website is just one of the many factors used by search engines to position the website in search results. But when every website owner strives to be on page one of Google, choosing a good domain name is another opportunity to score points.

Experience tells us a domain name should be all of these: 

1) Easy to remember
2) Contain key search word or words.
3) Not similar to existing names.

Easy to remember

Domain names are allowed to contain up to 67 characters. One client wanted us to register a name he had created with 54 characters.

It certainly contained key search words and was nothing like any existing name. But when I asked the client to repeat the name so that I could check what I had written down, the client himself had forgotten the exact name.

A name which is easy to remember helps customers of a website come back for repeat business. It also helps them refer the website to other people.

One client wanted a name made from the two initials of each of his three children. That was certainly very easy for him to remember and made a new word that could be pronounced although it didn't mean anything. But did he expect everyone else to know the first and middle names of his three children, or even that he had children?

It's okay to have two names, one for search engines and a short one for emails, both opening the same website.

Contain key search word or words

This is another opportunity to get your website indexed by Google under your key search words. What are the key words that you want people to search Google for and find your website?

If you are an electrician in Kentucky then electriciankentucky.com is the best name for you. But that's already taken. So you can qualify the name with say your name. E.g. smithselectricianskentucky.com

We find some people want their personal name for a domain name, e.g. joesmith.com. This is fine if Joe Smith is already a celebrity and a lot of people know him, but not if he wants people who don't know him to find his website. Personal names for domain names are suitable for politicians, authors, artists, musicians, film stars, sports stars and celebrities.

A client wanted a name for his business website which didn't represent any product or service, i.e. with no key words. When asked why, he explained that he wanted to keep the name available to cover any future business that he might expand into. Well the answer is that without keywords in the name he must work much harder to become big enough to expand into other businesses. We suggest future businesses deserve their own name.

Even businesses on the main street recognize the importance of keywords. E.g. you don't see a butchers shop without signage that says "Butcher" even though you get a clue from the meat in the shop window.

Not similar to existing names

Naturally if your name is similar to an existing name then its possible the existing name already has a good position in search engines. Then the existing name will be listed before your new name and steal your potential visitors.

One client chose a good name that included two key search words. They then found that name existed with just an "s" on the end. Beware of plurals and singulars of a name that you choose.

Some people try to start up with the.net version of a.com name. This is like hitting your head against a brick wall. If someone has established a position in the search engines with a.com name then it won't be easy to take that position from them with the.net version.

Put your energy into selecting an original name that can't be confused with another.

Conclusion

To give a domain name every chance of success, make it easy to remember, contain key words and be not simiar to an existing name.

Another factor considered by search engines is the age of a name, so do select a name that won't give you cause to start again in the future with a new name. Choose a name you can stay with.

Big Idea: Bring Back the "Cold Fusion" Dream

A new theory may explain the notorious cold fusion experiment from two decades ago, reigniting hopes of a clean-energy breakthrough.

By Mark Andersone

Electrolysis cell schematic

Wikipedia/Pbroks13

In 1989 Stanley Pons andMartin Fleischmann made a sensational claim that would have changed the world—had it been true. They said they had achieved nuclear fusion at room temperature using a simple tabletop device, thus creating a revolutionary clean energy source they called “cold fusion.”

Unfortunately for the University of Utah chemists, multiple attempts to replicate their experiment over ensuing months failed. Cold fusion was considered debunked, and it has lived beyond the fringe of mainstream science ever since.

Yet quietly, more than 20 years later, two of the world’s largest mainstream scientific institutions—NASA and the European physics research center CERN—have revisited the controversial energy-generating experiment. A growing cadre of scientists now suspect that Pons and Fleischmann’s observations were the result not of fusion but of more plausible physical processes. Some are even cautiously optimistic that those processes could be exploited to generate abundant amounts of clean energy. “There’s enough evidence that says we need to look at this,” says Joseph Zawodny, a physicist at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Virginia.

The man most responsible for the change of thinking is a technology and energy consultant with a background in physics named Lewis Larsen. In 1989 he was paying attention when Pons and Fleischmann described how a set of palladium rods, connected to an electric current and immersed in lithium-enriched water, churned out more energy in the form of heat than it received in electricity. He followed along as subsequent experiments achieved mixed results. Some seemed to produce a lot of heat, others little or none. Yet a nagging question persisted: If the contraptions really were putting out more energy than they took in, what could be responsible?

Pons and Fleischmann’s infamous explanation was that hydrogen nuclei were fusing inside the metal rods. Larsen, along with virtually every physicist on the planet, knew that was implausible: Fusion requires enormous temperatures and pressures, which is why it occurs only in stars and bombs. But the heat seemed real, at least in some cases. So in 1997, when hedge fund executives asked Larsen to explore wild-card ideas for energy production, he decided to investigate the cold fusion mystery using only established physics.

Cold, Yes, But Not FusionSifting through physics literature, Larsen considered other nuclear reactions that could subtly produce energy. One candidate was radioactive decay, which occurs when unstable atomic nuclei release energy in the form of radiation. Some elements found in nature, like radium, undergo this decay. Could something in the cold fusion apparatus be doing much the same? Larsen formulated a theory showing how that could happen, and in 2004 he recruited Northeastern University theoretical physicist Allan Widom to hone his ideas.

Their theory showed how a film of negatively charged electrons covering the palladium could combine with positively charged protons from the water’s hydrogen atoms to form neutrons. Those neutrons could then be gobbled up by nearby lithium nuclei, disturbing the delicate balance of protons and neutrons that keep the nuclei stable. The lithium nuclei would rapidly decay, first into beryllium and then into helium, and emit radiation. Finally, the film of electrons would absorb the radiation and reemit it as heat. Widom and Larsen called this chain of events a low-energy nuclear reaction, or LENR—a more accurate and palatable term than cold fusion. The European Physical Journal C published their theory in 2006.

The paper did not make a splash at first. By then, scores of wild-eyed papers had claimed to explain cold fusion. Yet Widom-Larsen theory had more going for it. For one, it had the authority of a respected theorist in Widom. It also had the ring of plausibility: It proposed a phenomenon permitted by the known laws of physics, no new science required. “Widom-Larsen theory is the best formulated explanation of what’s going on,” says Ephraim Fischbach, a Purdue University physicist who is not involved in LENR research.

In addition, Widom and Larsen theorized that the same neutron production process could happen in nature. Recently, scientists found one piece of supporting evidence for that. In March a study in Physical Review Letters described a large flux of neutrons during thunderstorms—perhaps, Larsen says, the result of LENRs in the atmosphere sparked by electricity from lightning.

As the Widom-Larsen theory gains traction, more physicists are emerging to put it to the test. In March, Yogendra Srivastava from the University of Perugia in Italy, who worked with Widom and Larsen on their theory, chaired a LENR-themed colloquium at CERN—the institution’s first official examination of “cold fusion” in more than two decades. Soon after, NASA released details on a $200,000-a-year research program on LENRs, led by Zawodny. “The theory made it past peer review in a real journal,” he says. “But I’m always skeptical. I only believe what I can prove.”

Game Changer or Dud?Zawodny has designed a stamp-size array of metal tiles to test the theory. According to Larsen’s paper, the properties of some of the tiles should make it easier for electrons and protons to merge and form neutrons. If Zawodny observes evidence of neutron production, then he plans to do a follow-up experiment to see if those neutrons are fueling radioactive decay. Even if he gets the expected results, though, it would take several years and many corroborating experiments before LENRs could be considered confirmed.

Larsen, who formed the company Lattice Energy in 2001 as he was formulating his theory, has his eyes on the big prize: converting nuclear-generated heat into electricity, the unfulfilled original promise of cold fusion. He hopes to raise $25 million over the next few years to build prototype LENR generators.

So far, Larsen still has only a theory and some circumstantial evidence. But if LENRs could be proved and tamed—a very big if—the effect could be transformative. Dennis Bushnell, chief scientist at NASA Langley, wrote in an online article that LENRs could potentially satisfy the world’s energy needs at a quarter the cost of coal. Zawodny adds to that enthusiasm in an accompanying video. “If we were to have such a thing,” he says, “it would be the sort of technology that would fuel our future growth and expansion and have the ability to raise the standard of living of the entire world.”

A California Station Tests Out New Biodiesel

By Ashley P. Taylor 

Fancy putting a bit of the aquatic in your gas tank? Go to California. A new kind of biodiesel, containing 20-percent algae-based fuel, went on sale at gas stations in the San Francisco Bay area last week as part of a one-month pilot program. The fuel emits 10 percent fewer hydrocarbons, 30 percent fewer particulates, and 20 percent less carbon monoxide than other biodiesels according to its producer, Solazyme, reports Yale Environment 360. This is the first time that an algae-based fuel has made it into cars.

People have long been searching for plant-based alternatives to fossil fuels, which would help offset their own emissions by absorbing CO2 as they grow. Algae are of particular interest because they yield more fuel per unit of land than any other biofuel. Since they grow in water, they don’t compete for land that could otherwise be used for growing food, the way ethanol, another biofuel, does.

But Solazyme’s fuel-production method doesn’t exploit these advantages; they neither eat CO2 nor occupy pond real estate.  Solazyme originally tried growing their algae in ponds but it was not cost-effective. Instead, the company now grows the algae indoors, sheltered from the sun, and feeds them sugars, which they digest through fermentation and convert to fuel, a method that is more economical, Solazyme CEO Jonathan Wolfson told Marc Gunther at Yale Environment 360.

As Solazyme’s unsuccessful effort to make pond-grown fuel illustrates, cost is the major disadvantage of algae-based fuel. For example, the US government sponsored the Aquatic Species Project (1978-1996) to produce energy, including biofuels, from algae, but the project shut down because it was not eonomically viable.

Better luck this time? The Bay-area pilot program in the Bay area will last one month, a representative of Propel Fuels, the company distributing the biodiesel, told the Chronicle, and then they will decide whether and how to expand it.

Surface: An Amazing Tablet by Microsoft

By Semeli Karen McPherson

                                               

It seems like there are tables all around, when the world is already talking about iPad mini there is yet another news from the software giant Microsoft. It is fresh from a source that Microsoft is all geared to launch its own tablet called the Surface. This tablet will run on the latest OS the Windows 8.

Surface is a sleek and stylish tablet that is going to come out in two versions. First version is Surface RT, this will be supportive of ARM chip and as the name suggests it will run on Windows RT. The second version of Surface is that of Surface Pro, this version will run on the latest OS version namely the Windows8.

There are speculations about the exact launch date of this tablet. It is said that Microsoft has already scheduled the launch of this product on 25th October. Reportedly, Microsoft wants to stay ahead of its competitors especially in the technology market of tablet, this could be the reason why it has chosen this date as its product launch.

The news sources are still speculating about the possible inclusion of the features about this tab as for now. Nonetheless, let us find out what is this tablet all about including the specs and the features.

Display and Screen

Tablets as we know are manufactured to have a good display quality and a glass that is often scratch proof. Keeping these things in mind, both Pro and RT Surface will have HD quality display and Gorilla Glass. While RT will have 10 inches of HD screen display by Clear Type and 1280 x 720 resolution, Pro will sport comparatively larger screen that of 10.6 inch and a resolution of 1920 x 1080 and the display will be widescreen (16:9).

All the above specifications about the screen clearly indicate that Surface stands ahead with big screen display in the tablet market. Other players like Samsung and Apple have only managed to equip their tablets with that of 10-inch display. Surface comes out as a refreshing change in the category and is rather impressive too. So, for all those who are looking for something new that is other than Android or iOS can go with this.

Camera

It is almost a technology trend in the tablet industry to have two cameras. Microsoft too has introduced front and back mounted cameras. The front mounted camera is called the Life Cam by Microsoft but the camera resolutions still remains a mystery. Additionally, using Skype will be a better experience as the product is already owned by Microsoft and video chat experience on Surface will add to it.

Touch Keyboards

If you are looking for indulging in work that involves text input then you can easily do so by adding a touch keyboards to it. This way you can transform your tablet into a portable notebook. Make it look trendy by choosing from various cover options. The Touch covers are different from the ones that are designed for protecting the keyboards, as these covers include the functionality of intuitive touch interface. This way a user will not face any errors while typing and the sensitivity and intuitive typing functionality of the Touch Keyboard is retained. Additionally when you look at it, you will find it attractive in the first glance, sleek and stylish as ever. These are available in numerous colors to your taste and they are as light as feather with a thickness of mere 3mm. Touch cover can be easily connected to the tablet through magnetic click. Now you can easily create a document and compose an e-mail comfortably.

Kickstand

In case you are wondering of viewing pictures, videos or even utilizing it for viewing slide show then it is made easy with the kickstand. This stand is in inbuilt and helps to prop the device up straight while supporting the tablet. Now you can easily prop it up and view any content at an easy to view adjustable viewing angle.

Memory Options

If you are the one who likes storing files, images, videos and music on their tab then Surface is the one for you. You will never run out of space constrain with this tab as you are offered three options; 32GB, 64GB and the best 128GB storage capacity. If you are still keen on loading on more content then you have the option to expand the memory via card slot (microSD) option.

Price

A lot of speculation is still going on in the technology market about Surface including the price range. Some sources say that it may cost around the price bracket of 300-800 USD. Again, some believe the price around $199, however, the official announcement about the same is yet to be out in the media.

Until the time this tablet is officially launched, let us wait and watch.

She is a Technology writer who is keen on any new emerging technology updates. She is working with Qresolve as a Technical Support Engineer. Semeli Karen McPherson has been offering online tech support to global customers for issues related to laptops, desktops, Mac and devices including iPods, tablets, iPhones, computer support and more. She caters to the segment of core technology and provides viable solutions to any issues related to technology and software. Her expertise and skills in handling key technology issues is immaculate and quick result bearing. Through her articles and postings she aims to provide knowledge and solutions to common technology issues that a user faces.

Methods for Searching Electronic Documents

By Karl Obayi

When it comes to searching for electronic data contained inside a computer for use in litigation, the meaning of "search" takes on a broader and detailed scope. Searching for data on a computer is obviously not the same as searching for a document within a file cabinet.

With the file cabinet search, you are dealing with printed paper, you can see, touch, smell and feel. However searching for data that resides inside a computer amounts to searching for documents you cannot feel, smell or touch.

Interestingly, when you see your document on the computer screen as text or numbers or a combination of both. What is representing those text and numbers on your screen are actually a combination of 1 and zeros known as binaries.

In summary, the computer does not store data in English, French, German or Spanish. The computer stores data as different combinations of 1's and 0's ( Binaries). However the computer has an automated way of converting what you type on your keyboard to what you can understand on the screen. How does it do this? Patience my friend. This will be the topic of another article.

But for now, let me introduce you to some methods for searching for computer data that is not printed on paper but rather resides in the computer Hard disk as 1's and 0's.

Because of the volume of documents we can now store on computers, the job of searching for documents is becoming a more complex undertaking especially if the computer in question was used by a third party.

Computer users, employ different names to save their files. Some of these names, will suggest what the file contains but a lot of file names will not suggest the file content. For example I may save a file with the name "orange" on my computer. If you conduct a search on my computer for the word "fruit", the document saved as "Orange" on my computer will not be revealed.

The above position represents what happens with a general search on the computer. However, there are methods and specialised computer search applications that can do a better job. For example a search for "fruit" will reveal the a file saved as "orange".

Consequently, detailed search for documents on the computer require further knowledge and techniques. This generally requires a starting point referred to as a "keyword" search. We will now touch on various types of searches. But first what is a "keyword"?

Keyword

Very often with computer searches, the emphasis is first, not related to the name of a document but rather the search is for an operative word or string of data that will lead to all the relevant document that contains the search term. Consequently the use of "keywords" is intrinsic to computer search.

Your ability to formulate the appropriate keyword or search terminology is crucial. The computer during the search process, will only respond to the questions you have asked. If you input a search for "oranges", the computer will not search for cars. However, the computer is smart enough to know that oranges and grape belong to the same class. You must then find a way of telling the computer to return grapes as a word even where you have searched for oranges.

To drive the point further, the computer will generally not return the word "died". if you searched for the string text "passed away". However, there are methods of making the computer return searches of words that belong to the same family of meaning.

Let us now address some of these methods that will help enhance our search capabilities on computers. Note, that some of these techniques are only possible by the use of special software installed on a computer e.g. dtsearch application. Search applications, enhance the computers ability to go beyond the ordinary search for keywords but instead enables the computer to conduct search in a more detailed and humanlike manner.

Indexed search

Given the volume of data that computers can now store, thanks to the ever decreasing cost of computer storage (Hard drives), a small laptop for example can now hold a Billion bytes of data or more.

The more the data, the longer the time it takes for the computer to process a search request to look for a particular file or keyword. However the computer can proactively compile a table of all the instances of the word gathered from the documents on the computer. Subsequently anytime a search is conducted the computer will reference the table of words. This table of words complied is known as an index. It's primary purpose, is that it saves time.

Terms like " live search" refer to searches that do not generally make reference to the index table but instead, the search is conducted directly on the computer storage device. This takes more time and consumes more computer resources.

Noise words

To increase the efficiency of the search, most specialised search applications, Ediscovery and forensic applications will provide an opportunity to exclude what is generally referred to as "noise words" during a search. This approach saves time and computer resources. Noise words are the usual everyday word you generally will find in most documents employed in everyday writing. e.g. to, a, was e.t.c. Other terms that can also be excluded from a search are well know file names e.g. names belonging to files created and used by the computer system automatically e.g. anti virus files and user profile files.

Concept search

This concerns the use of search queries to identify a group of documents that have a similar thread, a similar subject matter. This approach is aimed more at locating a group of documents rather than just one document.

Predictive search

As the name implies, this is a search methodology that seeks to predict the class of documents containing the desired word or text which is the subject of the search. It involves the computer analysing a group of documents and drawing some distinction or similarity in contents in the grouped documents and applying that sampling to all other searched documents.

Boolean search

A boolean search allows the use and combination of words during the search for digital documents. special words know as boolean operators are used for these purpose for example. AND, OR, NOT AND NEAR. The use of the boolean operators allows you to limit or expand the scope of your search.

Most internet browser e.g. Google actually default to the use of boolean operators during a search operation.

Fuzzy search

Fuzzy searching will find a word even if it is misspelled. For example a search for the word "orangos" may return a search result of "oranges". This type of search will greatly assist in circumstances where you suspect there may be issues with the spelling of relevant words, especially for documents that have been scanned and likely to contain omitted text.

Phonic search

A phonic search will return words that sound almost alike and begins with the same letter. e.g. a search for spade may also return the word Spain.

Synonym search

A synonym search will return words with the same or almost similar meaning e.g. a search for the word "buy" may return the word "purchase".

Stemming search

A stemming search will return extended patterns of the search word; for example a search for cat may return words like cats, catlike etc.

In conclusion, it is possible to conduct a more detailed search for documents on your computer in a more intelligent and detailed manner; subject to your having the necessary additional computer applications and knowledge of the methods described above.

History of the electric car

The protection and preservation of the environment and energy saving are the hallmarks of this twenty-first century. This ecological objective can not be achieved without radical changes in human activities most polluting. Among these include the means of transport most used by man: the car. For example, concerning the rate of emissions of pollutants, if we cite only carbon dioxide or CO2, and only in the case of the region of Ile de France, road transport is responsible for Issue 14 396.9 kilotonnes per year against 11 075.8 for industry.

Among the solutions proposed by car manufacturers, there are cars running on bio-fuels such as gasoline to ethanol, those using solar energy or operating with a battery, ie electric cars.

Contrary to some misconceptions, the electric car is not the result of ecological thinking of the twenty-first century but has been tested and operated since the genesis of the automotive industry. Competition between the electric motor and the gas engine does not date from yesterday and the dumb passed by the first type of engine for almost a century is that the supplier of electrical power, namely the battery was too very heavy bulky. About its central charge, they were almost non-existent and electric motors were considered too quiet, so dangerous for pedestrians. But the real reason the motor was forgotten by the automotive industry is the invention of "crank" or automatic starter designed for the gas engine.

The first appearance of the vehicle qualified electrical imprecise. Although some sources state that it dates back to around 1830 and was the invention of a Scottish named Robert Anderson. At that time, the work of the latter corresponded to more than one vehicle a cart. Robert Anderson then gave way to an American by the name of Thomas Davenport whose invention was closer to a locomotive.

In 1859, Gaston Plante invented the first rechargeable lead acid, a finding that will be very useful for future electric cars.

In 1881 appears the actual first car of this type and it is the work of a certain J. Raffard. He had not only designed the craft but also the machine to recharge the battery. An invention that will be challenged by Thomas Parker in 1884, who says he is the author of the first electric car and proves it with a picture support. Other studies argue that this is an American named William Morrison in 1891, was the forerunner in the industry. In fact, he invented the first electric vehicle to be marketed.

The first electric car to exceed the speed of 100 km / h was referred to as "Jamais Contente" and was built in Belgium in 1899. It was equipped with Michelin tires and adopted as a torpedo.

In the 1900s, more than a third of existing vehicles worldwide were electric and this is also the renaissance of petrol engines which resulted in the introduction on the market of Ford Model T. Around 1912, the sale of electric vehicles was in decline due to the accessibility of the essence, the very high price of these types of car compared to petrol and especially the low speed and autonomy of the latter.

After more than 60 years of slumber, the concept of the electric car resurfaced in 1972 with the invention by Victor Wouk the first hybrid car of this twentieth century called Buick Skylark. An initiative taken by the Golf mark in 1974 that this show Vanguard-Sebring CitiCar the first car manufacturer mainly electrical.

In 1976, the U.S. Congress gave a boost to the concept through a project that will promote research in building electric cars. An initiative of the word by the manufacturer General Motors which influences the output of the model EV1.

In 1990, several projects compete and generate multiple output prototypes. Between 1996 and 2000, several models will be the one whose 1117 General Motors EV1, the Toyota Prius, a hybrid, like the Chevrolet S-10.

Between 2000 and 2006, the concept was again silent for a strong comeback with the trend "eco" and "bio" of our time. Several prototypes are advertised favorites in this race to the fully electric vehicle such as the Nissan EV-11 or Lotus cities of Lotus Engineering.

The Negative Impact of Technology

By Sam Bhatt

Although technology is good and has made life easier in many ways, it also has the negative impact. For example, before it was well advanced, kids had a social life that was called "outside". With the kids of today, their form of entertainment is the PlayStation, Facebook, Blackberries, iPhones, and Television sets that come with about 300 channels.

Apart from the kids, there are many people who do not have patience, owing to the high technology levels. The reason is that man is becoming increasingly dependent on technology each day. A good example is that of a coffee machine that is known to take a millisecond to dispense coffee. If it takes more than that millisecond, the machine user becomes anxious.

As much as people have been made aware of the positive side of technology, it is important for them to be clearly made aware of the negative impact it has on various sectors like communication and education.

With regard to communication, it has now become instant, and unfortunately, many individuals have not taken the time to analyze the effect it has on their lifestyles. Those with families have the spouse and the children waiting for them after having been in the office the entire day. Unfortunately, such people arrive home and the next minute they are on their computers checking the latest updates like Facebook, and emails. When they are done, the next thing is switching on the TV. This leaves no time for the family because the definition for the word `relaxation' has changed. To have thousands of friends on a social network like Facebook is not really important, considering that there is no face-to-face interaction.

While internet access and technology have made communication easy, one can also stay connected for as long as it is necessary. The problem is that even when having lunch with family, there are people who are busy with their Blackberries while browsing. To such individuals, they will still claim to be in a family that is close-knit.

Education has also been affected adversely by technology. For example, any student will confess that Google is a god. They will find details related to any topic that they need to write about. Owing to all the information being readily available, students have turned out to be extremely lethargic. With many colleges, the assignments must be submitted online. Regardless of the depth of a topic, a student just needs a few hours online in order to come up with a good essay.

The negative impact is universal in that the kids are the best source of details concerning the latest gizmos, gadgets, and more. They are more informed that the parent on matters concerning cell phones that are latest. Recreational activities have seized to be part of leisure time. For the children, Androids, iPhones, PlayStations, and Video games are the way to go.

How Technology Has Affected US Presidential Elections

By Robert Rose Frische

The recent race to the White House has been the hot topic of conversation, and not just in America. People from all over the world have been gripped by the battle between the current president and his rival for the top job in US politics, Mitt Romney. Although both candidates spent a great deal of time travelling around the US, giving speeches to their voters, it is the internet that has acted as the means of communication to the American (and World) audience. We decided to look at how it was used for the most recent election and how improvements in technology have influenced presidential campaigns in the past.

1924: Davis vs Coolidge

President Harding first introduced the idea of speaking to the public on the radio in 1921 but it was not until the 1924 presidential election that it was really utilised. By this time millions of Americans had receiving sets in their living rooms and they were all expecting to hear what the candidates had to say. Such a huge importance was placed on this new technology that Coolidge and Davis were actually made to sit in a glass booth on-stage, in-front of 16,000 people, and told to avoid their usual pacing back and forth, to ensure that the microphone would pick up everything they said.

Across the country schools were closed so that students could listen and people huddled around radios in department stores and at home. Sales of receiving sets hit a record high and 'Nation' magazine printed that "1924 would be looked back on as the radio year". For the first time the American voters were able to listen in on a presidential election, thanks to this new technology.

1960: Nixon vs Kennedy

The first ever televised presidential debate was broadcast on Sep 26th 1960 and it was an event that changed the face of US politics forever. At that time Kennedy was a relatively unknown senator that had the odds stacked against him. The debate lasted one hour and by the end of it the majority of those who listened in on the radio were confident of Nixon's victory. However, the 88% of Americans who watched it on TV were witness to a completely different picture - one of Nixon looking frail and weak from a recent operation, as well as sweating and looking very nervous. In contrast, Kennedy looked calm, confident and strong and there was no doubt that, for those who had seen it with their own eyes, he had won. Kennedy would later reference the importance of this technology by saying "it was the TV more than anything else that turned the tide.

2012: Obama vs Romney

The photograph of President Obama hugging his wife has become the most re-tweeted post in the history of Twitter and this is a fitting nod to the huge part that this website has had to play in the recent US Election. The fact that it was posted before Obama even took to the stage to thank his supporters in person illustrates how important this social media platform was to his campaign. At one point on the election night, users tweeted at a rate of 327,452 per minute.

Facebook was also used to its full potential by both candidates with the fan pages and member-to-member communications as well as more original and exciting ideas such as an 'I Voted' button at the top of news feeds, that is responsible for an estimated third of a million extra people voting alone.

Time for the US to bury its not-very-smart grid

Paul Marks, chief technology correspondent

(Image: Brendan Smaialowski/AFP/Getty Images)

Six million people in the US lost their electricity supply when superstorm Sandy brought down overhead power lines across many north-eastern states last week. A nuclear power station and the cloud data centres run by Amazon were also left chugging along on backup diesel generator power. It all looks like leading to calls for the region's highly weather-exposed power lines to be buried underground, no matter the cost.

For instance, Maryland senator Nathaniel McFadden says that, alongside like-minded colleagues, he will now "promote legislation to bury all power lines" so they can cope "no matter what nature hurls at us". Business Insider rightly points out that leaving the power grid open to hurricanes, snow and ice storms is an "obvious flaw in US infrastructure" - especially with billions being spent to secure the grid from cyberattack.

The opposition from utilities to burying power lines in the US is both economic and technical: burying lines in Washington DC alone would cost $5.8 billlion - adding $226 to monthly electricity bills for a decade. Technically, floods and errant construction digging can make buried cable troublesome, too. But the frequency with which life on the north-eastern seaboard is disrupted by outages will probably swing opinion against such factors: hurricane Irene in August 2011 and the "derecho" storm in June caused week-long outages.

Even if, after Sandy, utilities and government ignore the heartache caused to power-deprived residents, there are safety and economic reasons for burying the lines. As Sandy smashed into New Jersey, the Oyster Creek nuclear power station lost off-site power as overhead lines came down. Luckily the station is defuelled and out of service, but it left the cooling system for the spent fuel ponds dependent on backup diesel power. Some say they dodged a bullet.

And what of confidence in the US internet sector? The giant Amazon Web Services has confirmed to New Scientist that it foresaw the likely loss of offsite power as Sandy approached. So it tooled up at its Virginia cloud data centres - which host Reddit, Quora, Hootsuite, Pinterest and Foursquare amongst many other top global sites - with "generator fuel, food/water, flashlights, radios and extra staff".

"The generators were needed," says Amazon spokeswoman Tera Randall in Seattle, Washington. "And all went smoothly." Not all net firms were so lucky, however.

Advocates of the "undergrounding" of the overhead grid hope some kind of infrastructure stimulus funding could pay for it. And one sign that the tide of opinion may be turning is apparent: even the right-wing Fox News is advocating likewise.

Technology As an Extension of Our Humanity

By Stacey J Thompson

We who live in (relatively) civilized and developed countries would not be able to survive without the basics of running water and electricity. Devices, gadgets, and machines of all sorts surround us, enabling us to accomplish the basic tasks that comprise our daily existence. The mere fact that you are reading this means you are partaking of one of the many electronic tools that we depend so heavily on.

Man's capability to invent and use tools has enabled him to rise above the rest of the biosphere. When we are shown the word "technology," we are often thinking of electricity-powered computing devices and the like, but in truth, even humble stick of wood, in the hands of a creature utilizing it for something that augments its natural capabilities, is technology. Even our less-intelligent animal cousins are capable of utilizing tools, but the heights we have taken the tool-using paradigm exceed all of their breakthroughs put together. We are the ultimate tool users of this planet.

Let's get back to more modern times. There have always been those who decried the use of advanced technologies (advanced compared to their level of tech use, anyway), like the Amish who deem the use of electricity as a distraction from their focus on living a life immersed in their faith, or those who follow the tenets of Christian Science that refuse to partake of modern medicine. They are still using more rudimentary forms of technology that centuries back, were considered technological breakthroughs (and they were probably considered heretical back then).

These detractors of technology often see these new ways of doing things as a departure from tradition, and an unnecessary reliance on something that's not associated with nature or their chosen supreme being/presence/spirit/etc. At the risk of being branded by my readers as a Luddite, I actually agree with the anti-technology camp to a certain extent.

We are often guilty of abusing modern conveniences to the point of doing a half-baked or haphazard job. Most technologies aren't without its toll, either. Every time you drive your car to go somewhere instead of just walking (I've known some people opting to drive to a destination a mere twenty meters away from their home), you are burning non-renewable fossil fuels and are making the air we breathe just a little dirtier.

The ideal view of technology is that it is supposed to enable us to do more, and do it better. We come up with these breakthroughs to solve existing problems, and hopefully not create new ones. Technology should benefit more people and harm less, and that's not what we see in our world today.

This is a twofold message that I want to pass onto the rest of humanity. I'm certain many before me have had these sentiments, but we're a stubborn species, so I'm doing my part by reiterating it once more. We, as the most technologically advanced species on this planet, must strive to create technologies that will augment the positive aspects of our humanity, and when these products of science are within our grasp, we should do our best to use them responsibly. In that, I disagree with those who shun technology. These are tools, and are only as detrimental or as beneficial as those who wield them. Let us use these implements for the good of man and the planet, and not as devices of our self-destruction.

Stacey Thompson is a professional writer, marketer, entrepreneur, and a lover of weird little animals. She is based in San Diego, California, and works with many companies that promote the responsible, humanistic, and pro-ecological use of technologies for the benefit of people and the planet. Chassis Plans and Tronix Country are some of her client

The Intricacy Of 3D Printing

By Chris Waldo

3D printing is a pretty interesting form of manufacturing technology in my opinion. It gives designers, artists, engineers, computer graphic artists, or whatever - a chance to design and create products. These "products" can do pretty much whatever you need them to in a sense. 3D printing is a form of manufacturing that involves the use of over 100 materials, thus giving designers a chance to produce a product out of almost any material. Think about that: with 3D printing, a designer can create a product out of almost any material necessary. Let me go into further details.

Imagine you're working for NASA or Red-bull and you are trying to work on a highly classified and custom engine to a certain jet. Well, you can't simply go to Home-Depot to pick up the part you are looking for in many cases, you have to build it yourself! These facilities often use CNC machining methods to produce parts, but 3D printing can take an edge in some situations. 3D printing allows for the creation of practically anything out of a very wide variety of materials. This technology, also referred to as additive manufacturing, can do some very interesting stuff that other forms of manufacturing simply cannot. Let me elaborate.

3D printing works with a layer by layer process which uses a CAM system, or a computer aided manufacturing system. Only one layer of material is made at a time, allowing for the creation of some seriously intricate things. What does this mean? Imagine a very intricate city, in the form of a 3D model. There are lots of sky scrapers, buildings, water parks, landmarks, statues, etc. Remember, this city is captured in a 3D model, which we want to manufacture. Imagine placing this intricate city inside of a ball. Keep in mind, the ball must be able to fit in the palm of your hand, so the resolution and detail tolerance must be high. If you try to take the 3D model of a city within a ball to a machine shop, you will be let down - it simply cannot be done! However, with 3D printing, this is very possible. Let's go back to the layer by layer process I mentioned earlier.

Through 3D printing, a machine will lay down very small layers of material down in accordance to the design. Sometimes the detail level is a fraction of a millimeter. Think about this city being constructed from 3D printing. Small buildings, stop signs, cars, and various landmarks are being made.25 millimeters at a time, all while laying down material for the ball which encompasses the city. The end product will result in a ball with a miniature city inside of it. This is very possible through 3D printing, other forms of manufacturing simply cannot do this.

This manufacturing technology is very good for creating very intricate models like the one I mentioned earlier, among other things. There are so many possibilities with this technology that I can't even count them! 3D printing is, and will continue to change the world.

If you enjoyed this article, you might want to learn about 3D Printing, or possibly you'd like to join a 3D Printing Community.