Sixth-gen iPod nano hacked, jailbreak imminent?

A promising breakthrough was just announced in iPod nano hacking. James Whelton (@jwhelton) has taken the first steps to unlocking the latest, sixth-gen iPod nano — and his work will undoubtedly lead to more developments in this exciting new area.

It’s still in its infancy but Whelton has succeeded in bypassing the devices cache comparison and installed a simple Springboard hack that allows for a blank space previously possible only on jailbroken iPhones and iPads. Whelton hopes that his work will enable other developers to expand the functionality of the new nano by installing a bootloader onto it.

Could we see a jailbroken iPod nano in the short term? Absolutely.

This could be music to the ears of people who like to wear their iPod nano on their wrist. Especially if a jailbroken iPod nano could run the Movie and Calendar apps.

Since the new nano doesn’t have any wireless radios apps like Email, Safari and Twitter make less sense but the possibility of new apps on the nano is definitely exciting.

Update: MacStories‘ Federico Viticci notes that Whelton has discovered some hidden strings in the nano’s OS:

Next is the discovery in some of the device’s plists of reference to support of Movies, TV Shows, Apps, Games, vCards, Calender events and so on, with a few other cool things like a passcode lock. With the bypass I figured out, I hope to enable these pretty soon. It seems like the OS is a rehashed version of the previous Nano’s OS.

India's 'first web TV' to be launched

KOCHI: Kochi-based Vibes Visual and Media Private Limited said it will launch Indiavibes, claimed to be India's first web TV, on New Year's day.

"We are focused on targeting people and not celebrities. The production hubs will be set up at Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore, to start with," the company's founder Andrine Mendez said.

"We cover all categories... fashion, music, films, business, technology, blogging, lifestyle, current affairs and wish to make Indiavibes, as its name suggests, the one-stop shop for all the entertainment for global audiences," said Mendez.

The public can access it on indiavibes.tv from Jan 1.

Tech Mahindra partners Microsoft to offer solutions to telcos

NEW DELHI: IT firm Tech Mahindra today said it has partnered with software giant Microsoft to offer customised CRM solutions for telecom service providers.

As a part of the initiative, Tech Mahindra has inaugurated a Microsoft Dynamics CRM Lab in Noida to focus on providing CRM offerings to telecom service providers globally, Tech Mahindra said in a statement.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM is a customer relationship management solution that provides tools and capabilities needed to create and maintain profiles of customers.

The hi-tech fridge of the future that will tell you what to have for dinner

Afridge of the future that tells you what to cook with your left-overs and automatically re-orders fresh food is being designed in the UK.

The self-cleaning 'fridge of the future' will automatically place supermarket home delivery orders when required and move food near its use by date to the front of the shelves.

Researchers hope the fridge could clean itself, cut down on wasted food and offer up recipes - which could be tailored to different countries, cuisines and seasons depending on whether people want to whip up something Italian or fancy a curry.

With Brits putting in 36 million hours every year of free overtime - leaving little time for household chores - the fridge could help save precious time during hectic modern-day lives.

These new developments are in the pipeline thanks to collaborations between scientists at the University of Central Lancashire and online supermarket Ocado.

The planned new features include the ability for fridges to scan their shelves to see what is in stock and use this information to both plan meals and automatically place a supermarket food order - with Ocado saying they could be hooked up to their website making grocery requests even simpler.

The smart fridge will use 'nano-articulated technology' shelf surfaces which, whilst smooth to the touch, will have millions of independently controlled micro-tiles which will manoeuvre products which soon need to be eaten to the front of the fridge.

The fridge will also monitor gases released by degrading foods and push these to the front of its shelves, according to the collaborators.

Ultrasound-scanning technology built into the door will allow the fridge to 'swipe and capture' the food on a plate before and after mealtime, meaning it can assess what type and amount of food is wasted.

Similar technological advances in the kitchen bin, with its own management system, would allow it to be linked to the fridge giving a more accurate measure of how much and what kinds of food are thrown out rather than eaten.

The fridge of the future would then be able to cross reference and act on this data - reducing the ingredients used in future meal suggestions and helping to minimise food waste.

Dr Simon Somerville, a future forecasting expert from the University of Central Lancashire, said that someone feeling lazy could use the proposed fridge to whip up a recipe for them.

He said: 'Cookbooks are essentially inventory lists of food items. To this end the most available information that the refrigerator will have is a set of permutations that allow a set number of ingredients to produce a large number of quite different dishes.

'The key concept in the successful implementation of this process is accurate inventory tracking.

'Based on information contained within each menu, such as 'this dish is typical to the north of Italy', allows a menu selection based on geographical location - all the time the user choice is compared by the refrigerator to what it knows it holds.

'If the specific item for a recipe is not present, the refrigerator might suggest a delayed option, which allows time for delivery, or possibly attempt to find or propose a passable alternative for the missing ingredient

UID No. to be used for mobile user verification

NEW DELHI: The Unique Identification (UID) number project, which is poised to use the 700 million-plus mobile subscriber database and distribution network, will in turn become the basis of issuing mobile connections in the future. The UID number will be the definitive proof for subscriber verification.

Security agencies often fret about lack of proper subscriber identification norms and paperwork before issuance of mobile numbers and SIM cards, especially among the fast growing prepaid segment. This is because subscribers across states and socio-economic categories do not have proper paperwork which either forces mobile companies to make exceptions or prevents potential and needy subscribers from getting onto India’s mobile network. Agencies have tried everything from tightening norms to penalties and failed.

Sixteen years after mobile operations were first launched in the country, the government and industry are yet to find a permanent foolproof response to this issue.

When ready, UID may just be the answer. DoT secretary R Chandrashekhar told TOI, “Serious consideration is being given to make UID the fundamental basis of subscriber verification. This will mean that the present arrangement will continue for a period of time but once UID is up and running the transition could occur very quickly and nationwide.”

UID is also far more secure than any of the other verification documents, except perhaps for the passport , which is available with only a very small fraction of the Indian population.

In a terror-prone country like India it has been proved time and again that mobile phones are the favourite communication device for terrorists and anti-social elements. They are easy to get and easier to dispose of, especially under the pre-paid scheme. The watered down subscriber verification norm often allows them to forge documents and other data, which could become considerably difficult, if not virtually impossible , with the coming of the UID number.

This will be especially helpful to genuine consumers in border states and Jammu & Kashmir, where the government has had to intervene on account of security requirements time and again, making it burdensome for the common man to access mobile service.

South Korean Schools Get Robot Teachers

A group of 30 egg-shaped robots have started teaching English at primary schools in South Korea, reports The Daily Mail. Developed by the Korea Institute of Science of Technology, these machines are 3.3ft high and have a TV panel that displays a female Caucasian face. The robots can wheel around the classroom while speaking to the students and can even read books and dance to music moving their head and arms. However, they are not autonomous human beings, but controlled with a remote by English teachers living in the Philippines, who can see and hear the children via a remote control system. Cameras detect the teachers facial expressions and reflect them on the avatar's face. They cost £5,600 each and will provide extra support for teachers, not replace them

Scientists Create Ultra-fast Computer Chip

Here comes a computer chip that is 20 times faster than the ones found in the current desktop PCs.
Dr Wim Vanderbauwhede, of the University of Glasgow, and colleagues at the University of Massachusetts Lowell have created an ultra-fast computer chip which could speed up machines and make them greener. Modern PCs have a processor with two, four or sometimes 16 cores to carry out tasks. But the central processing unit (CPU) developed by the researchers effectively had 1,000 cores on a single chip, Daily Mail mentioned in a report.

To do this, "scientists used a chip called a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) which like all microchips contains millions of transistors - the tiny on-off switches which are the foundation of any electronic circuit. But FPGAs can be configured into specific circuits by the user, rather than their function being set at a factory. This enabled the team to divide up the transistors within the chip into small groups and ask each to perform a different task," the report explained.

Dr Wim Vanderbauwhede added, "FPGAs are not used within standard computers because they are fairly difficult to program but their processing power is huge while their energy consumption is very small because they are so much quicker - so they are also a greener option."

India May Ban 3G Services

In a meeting on Monday(December 21, 2010) with representatives of telcos, the home ministry and security agencies, the Intelligence Bureau (IB) reportedly sought a temporary ban on all 3G data services, unless telecom operators demonstrate that these facilities could be tapped in real time. IB officials said they were unable to intercept services such as video calls and instant messaging flowing through 3G networks on a real-time basis. Last week, DoT had issued notices to Reliance Communications (RCom), Tata Teleservices and Bharti Airtel not to launch 3G mobile services as these can be traced only a few minutes after they have ended. Though RCom and Tata Teleservices, along with state-owned telcos BSNL and MTNL, have already launched 3G data services, Airtel plans to begin offering them by the end of this month.

According to the Economic Times, "Operators have been given up to seven days to demonstrate that data services can be tapped in real time, failing which the services will be disallowed." IB officials may discuss internally some of the proposals suggested by telcos during Monday’s meeting, and come back within the next couple of days, the paper quoted a DoT official as saying.

Any temporary ban on 3G services is likely to impact high-speed Internet, download of music and video clips, chat and Internet telephony calls.

Kno -- The Linux-based Educational Tablet

Kno, a California-based startup has announced that its Linux-based single-screen and dual-screen educational tablets for students will be shipping this week. This tablet is not competing with iPads or Galaxy Tabs, but has its own niche market -- students. The major use of this 35.8-cm (14-inch) Linux tablet will be to read textbooks, take notes and browse the Web. Kno is a multi-tasking browser that is capable of HD video playback. The Linux OS also enables it to support an HTML5 Web browser.

The single screen model has two variants of 16GB and 32GB costing $599 and $699, respectively. The dual-screen 16GB model costs $899 while the 32GB variant would cost you a whooping $999. It is needless to say that for a device with no apps and other 'fun' features, it costs a lot and would have a tough time doing business.

However, Osman Rashid, CEO and co-founder of Kno, Inc. argues that Know provides what others don't -- easy navigation through e-textbooks with large page sizes and hundreds of pages, and taking random notes alongside the text itself.

But are these enough to draw the crowd? A feature like this can be achieved by an app itself. Why would users buy Kno when it provides no apps? Rashid agrees to this but answers that there are students and parents who prefer a device which is void of features which distract users. He adds that purchase from these customers would be enough to make Kno a significant company.

Rashid also has a justifying answer for the high price of Kno and says that shifting to Kno is economic over spending on textbooks. He adds that the company has estimated that a student would be saving $1000 after converting to such digital textbooks.

Kno has not partnered with any publication to get these e-books for their format. The company has developed an automated process which converts e-books to the format supported by Kno. Rashid adds that thousands of titles have been converted already.

Even after so many assuring answers, I doubt if Kno will have many takers. What happens to this Linux-based educational tablet will be revealed with time.

Android Tablet Zen Pad Launched For Rs 13,999

Zen Pad, one of the newest Android tablets to be launched in India, has taken everybody by surprise, for it retails only for Rs 13,999. This makes it the most affordable Android tablet in the market today. Built by by H.T. IMPEX, which is a computer peripherals company and is known under the brand name ZEN The Master, the slim 17.8-cm (7-inch) tablet runs on Android OS 2.1 and can be used for Web browsing, watching photos, videos and movies, listening to music, reading eBooks and playing games, besides social networking and chat applications. It comes with a 1 GHz processor, 256 MB DDR2 memory, LED screen (800x480) having an aspect ratio of 16:9 and Wi-Fi. It also has a back-camera possessing a resolution of 0.3MP. Zen Pad comes with an 8GB memory card and a pouch with keyboard.

New iPad 2 rumors focus on smaller size and louder speakers

Just in time for the holidays, we have new “information” about the supposedly imminent iPad 2. As usual, the rumors come from anonymous sources in China, and have slight technical details about Apple’s (AAPL) next-generation tab.

According to a report from Ars Technica, the new iPad will be smaller and flatter, with better, improved speakers on board. That information comes by way of the Kanteidan Blog, out of Japan. It says the new iPad’s outer case will lose three millimeters from the length and width, which won’t affect the 9.7-inch LCD screen. Reportedly, the iPad 2 will also be flatter on its back side, in some ways emulating the iPod Touch.

More important than the minor size changes are the iPad 2’s rumored on-board speakers. We heard something about openings on the rear of the case that have been speculated to allow for an SD card reader or USB port, but the source for Kanteidan Blog says the opening is actually for rear-facing, wider-range speakers.

And as expected, the source also says the iPad 2 will have a front-facing Facetime camera, as well as a rear-facing camera capable of shooting video and high-definition photos.

It’s not a ton of new information, and we’ve heard or expected to hear a lot of this stuff before. But the addition of higher-quality speakers may kill the idea that iPad 2 will support USB -- something that was an exciting possibility for connectivity to various other devices. Seems that dream might be squashed.

IBM's 5 in 5

It is no secret that technology changes rapidly - the cellphone you carry may be the envy of everyone around, but be rest assured that it would be outdated in as soon as six months' time. It is significant to adapt ourselves to changing times in order to stay relevant. It has been an annual practice at IBM to predict the technology of the future and how would it affect our lives. The company just released its "Five in Five" list - carrying five innovations in the next five years and the list is anything but astonishing.

Battery technology - Since most of us are going mobile now with smartphones and tablets, it can be predicted that future gadgets would come with much more battery power and durability. But it running on air using oxygen as a component looks like a plot from a sci-fi movie. But it is all going to be available and ready to use by 2015. Smaller gadgets like, say an MP3 player may not require a battery at all as it would run on static or kinetic electricity.

Heat from servers and computers - If you work in a substantially large company or have ever been to a server room, you must have seen how important it is to maintain the temperature inside the premises and always cool down the servers; 50 per cent of the total power consumed by a modern datacentre goes toward cooling it down. The tremendous amount of heat generated is wasted - in fact, it is unwanted and that is why different types of coolants and air conditioners are installed to keep the heat away. In the next five years, the same heat from your datacentre could be recycled to be used to power up your homes -- that's what IBM thinks would be the future.

Holograms - Some of the science-fiction movies have already demonstrated this and it might be the inspiration behind this technology too. By 2015, you would be able to interact with your friend/relative - anyone you wish to talk to in real time using a 3D image of the person right in front of you. We already see the rapid adoption of 3D imagery in movies, LCD TVs, laptops, projectors etc. In the future, these holographic cameras that project 3D imagery will become so small that they could fit into your mobile device and be used to interact with anyone in real-time 3D imaging. Fascinating, isn't it?

Predicting traffic conditions - In the future, you wont be stuck in traffic waiting for the jam to be cleared so that you could reach work on time. It would all be personalised based on your most common routes, days of work, local events affecting common routes and hundreds of other possibilities that would combine to give you your personalised route for commuting. We already see some of it when you check in "traffic conditions" on Google Maps. Although, this isn't available anywhere in India, but users in the US use it to know which routes are jam packed and the best possible route to reach a particular destination.

Citizen Scientists - You have heard of the term 'Citizen Journalist'! Now get ready to become a scientist in the future. All your activity beamed through the sensors in your phone, tablet, car, wallet etc. will act as huge data sets to actual scientists who would study it to make useful products.

Using Chrome OS Is Careless Computing

The founder of the GNU project and the Free Software Foundation, Richard Stallman is criticising Chrome OS for being based on cloud computing, according to a report by the Guardian. Stallman told Guardian that Chrome OS looks like a plan "to push people into careless computing" as it forces people to store their data in the cloud on someone else's sevrver instead of their own devices which is fully under their control.

Using Chrome OS Is Careless Computing

The founder of the GNU project and the Free Software Foundation, Richard Stallman is criticising Chrome OS for being based on cloud computing, according to a report by the Guardian. Stallman told Guardian that Chrome OS looks like a plan "to push people into careless computing" as it forces people to store their data in the cloud on someone else's sevrver instead of their own devices which is fully under their control.

Tongue Drive System to Operate Computers

Scientists developed a new revolutionary system to help individuals with disabilities to control wheelchairs,computers and other devices simply by using their tongue.

Engineers at the Georgia Institute of Technology say that a new technology called Tongue Drive system will be helpful to individuals with serious disabilities, such as those with severe spinal cord injuries and will allow them to lead more active and independent lives.

Individuals using a tongue-based system should only be able to move their tongue, which is especially important if a person has paralyzed limbs. A tiny magnet, only a size of a grain of rice, is attached to an individual's tongue using implantation, piercing or adhesive. This technology allows a disabled person to use tongue when moving a computer mouse or a powered wheelchair.

Scientists chose the tongue to control the system because unlike the feet and the hands, which are connected by brain through spinal cord, the tongue and the brain has a direct connection through cranial nerve. In case when a person has a severe spinal cord injure or other damage, the tongue will remain mobile to activate the system. "Tongue movements are also fast, accurate and do not require much thinking, concentration or effort." said Maysam Ghovanloo, an assistant professor in the Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

The motions of the magnet attached to the tongue are spotted by a number of magnetic field sensors installed on a headset worn outside or an orthodontic brace inside the mouth. The signals coming from the sensors are wirelessly sent to a portable computer that placed on a wheelchair or attached to an individual's clothing.

The Tongue system is developed to recognize a wide array of tongue movements and to apply specific movements to certain commands, taking into account user's oral anatomy, abilities and lifestyle."The ability to train our system with as many commands as an individual can comfortably remember is a significant advantage over the common sip-n-puff device that acts as a simple switch controlled by sucking or blowing through a straw," said Ghovanloo.

The Tongue Drive system is touch-free, wireless and non-invasive technology that needs no surgery for its operation.

During the trials of the system, six able-bodied participants were trained to use tongue commands to control the computer mouse. The individuals repeated several motions left, right, up and down, single- and double-click to perform computer mouse tasks.

The results of the trials showed 100 percent of commands were accurate with the response time less than one second, which equals to an information transfer rate of approximately 150 bits per minute.

Scientists also plan to test the ability of the system to operate by people with severe disabilities. The next step of the research is to develop software to connect the Tongue Drive system to great number of devices such as text generators, speech synthesizers and readers. Also the researchers plan to upgrade the system by introducing the standby mode to allow the individual to eat, sleep or talk, while prolonging the battery life.

Latest Invention: The Smallest Laser in the World Created by US Researchers

The latest invention of American researchers is the laser that claims to be the smallest in the world. They managed to develop the laser by squeezing light into a space that is even tinier than a protein molecule. Their latest invention could be a significant breakthrough in the field of optical technology, making one step closer to nanolasers, which can be used to investigate and manipulate DNA. In addition, the laser can lead to the creation of super-fast computers and improved telecommunications.

The team of researchers was led by Professor Xiang Zhang. He mentioned that the plasmon laser constricts light into a gap that is only 5nm wide. An important step was the ability to detain light in a small space for a specific period of time required for light to stabilize into a "coherent" laser state, having all of its waves synchronized.

It is worth mentioning that plasmons are in fact wave-like movements of excited electrons on the surfaces of different metals. By connecting light to these oscillations, scientists managed to compress it further than usually, reports The Telegraph. More information on lasers and latest inventions you can find here at www.IfoNIAC.com, please check the links at the bottom of the story.

Professor Zhang, from the University of California at Berkeley said: "Plasmon lasers represent an exciting class of coherent light sources capable of extremely small confinement. This work can bridge the worlds of electronics and optics at truly molecular length scales." Their latest invention was described in the online version of the journal Nature. The scientist who co-authored the research, Dr Thomas Zentgraf, from the University's Nanoscale Science and Engineering Centre, stated: "The advantages of optics over electronics are multifold. For example, devices will be more power efficient at the same time they offer increased speed or bandwidth."

Intel’s Light Peak Technology Could Kill USB 3.0

Faster data transfer between gadgets has been on top of consumers’ wish list. Light Peak, a new high-speed optical cable technology to connect electronic devices with each other, could be the answer, says Intel.

Light Peak can be at least twice as fast as USB 3.0, also known as Super-speed USB, and can deliver bandwidth starting at 10 Gigabits per second, with the potential to extend to 100 Gb/s. At its lowest speed, it means you could transfer a full-length Blu-Ray movie in less than 30 seconds.

The technology which could start shipping in devices next year could succeed USB 3.0, Kevin Kahn, an Intel senior fellow said reportedly at the Intel Developer Forum in Beijing.

The USB Implementers Forum, an industry group that sets standards for USB, was not available for comment.

If Intel can pull it off, it would mean a big change for consumers. The ubiquitous Universal Serial Bus, or USB, has changed the way we interact with our computers. USB has allowed almost every consumer electronics product from keyboards, and printers to digital cameras and personal media players to be connected to a host PC using a single standardized socket.

USB has also made it possible for devices to be connected and disconnected without having to reboot the host computer and allowed for other devices to be charged off the port without the need for individual device drivers to be installed first.

This year, major PC and accessories makers are introducing products that use USB 3.0, whose data transfer rates of 4 Gb/s is up to ten times faster than USB 2.0.

But optical technology that drives Light Peak can do better, says Intel.

Unlike existing cables, optics transfers data using light instead of electricity. That makes its faster, allows for smaller connectors, and thinner, more flexible cables than what’s currently possible, says Intel.

Light Peak uses a controller chip and an optical module that would be included in devices that support the technology. The optical module, which performs the conversion from electricity to light using miniature lasers and photo detectors, will be manufactured by Intel’s partners, while the chip maker will produce the controller.

For now, Intel says that Light Peak can co-exist with USB 3.0 as Light Peak cables could be plugged in through the USB port.

“We see Light Peak and USB 3.0 as being complementary,” says an Intel spokesperson. “Light Peak enables USB and other protocols to run together on a single, longer cable and we expect both to exist together in the market and on the same platform at the same time. ”

But because of its potential, could Light Peak end up replacing USB 3.0?

Animatronics

Animatronics is the use of electronics and robotics in mechanised puppets to simulate life.

Animatronics are mainly used in movie making, but also in theme parks and other forms of entertainment. Its main advantages to CGI and stop motion is that it is not a simulation of reality, but rather physical objects moving in real time in front of the camera. The technology behind animatronics has become more advanced and sophisticated over the years, making the puppets even more realistic and lifelike.

Animatronics for film and television productions are used to perform action on camera in situations where the action involves creatures that do not exist, the action is too risky or costly to use real actors or animals, or the action could never be obtained with a living person or animal. The application of animatronics today includes computer controlled as well as radio and manually controlled devices. The actuation of specific movements can be obtained with electric motors, pneumatic cylinders, hydraulic cylinders and cable driven mechanisms. The type of mechanism employed is dictated by the character parameters, specific movement requirements and the project constraints.

THIS TECHNIQUE IS USED IN FILM "ENDHIRAN"

Device That Allows Using the Arm As a Touchscreen

Chris Harrison at Carnegie Mellon University and Dan Morris and Desney Tan at Microsoft's research lab in Redmond, Washington, recently came up with their latest invention calledSkinput, which represents a skin-based interface that makes it possible for a person to use his or her palm as a touchscreen.

The Skinput can be used to play games, control various devices, make phone calls and surf the Internet. The invention features a keyboard, menu and a number of other graphics that appear of the user's palm and forearm. The graphics are generated by a pico projector that in incorporated in an armband.

When the user touches a certain point on his or her palm, the acoustic detector in the armband identifies the part that was activated and performs the respective action. Scientists explain that the differences in bone density, size and mass, along with filtering effects from a person's soft tissues and joints, imply that various locations on the user's skin have different acoustic features. It is worth mentioning that the acoustic detector used in this invention is able to identify five skin locations, registering an accuracy of about 95.5 percent.

Using wireless technology, the researchers' latest invention can convey the signals to a cell phone, iPod or computer. The system was tested by 20 volunteers who gave a positive response to the device and its ability to provide fast navigation.

Researchers look forward to present their latest invention in April at the Computer-Human Interaction conference which will take place in Atlanta, Georgia.

Tech That Converts Lip Motion Into Voice

One of thelatest inventions presented at the CeBIT (Centrum der Büro- und Informationstechnik; German for "Centre of Office and Information technology"), which is the largest computer exposition in the world is dubbed "silent sounds." The technology converts lip motion into acomputer-generated voice for the person on the other end of the phone.

It is worth mentioning that "silent sounds" tech was developed by the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). This latest invention makes use ofelectromyography, monitoring small muscular motions that take place when a person speaks, transforming them into electrical pulses which are afterwards converted into speech.

According to its developers, the invention gives way to a lot of different application that can help people who lost their voice or allow users to inform confidential data via the cell phone without using their voice.

In addition, this latest invention can help you instantly translate words into another language, due to the fact that electrical pulses are universal. The users can convert these pulses into one of the languages currently supported by the technology: English, French and German. At the same time translation could be a problem for such languages as Chinese, in which one word could have a lot of meanings, depending on the tone used.

At this time, engineers managed to achieve 99 percent accuracy for their latest invention, which means that the person on the other end of the phone will get one word out of 100 wrong, said explained Michael Wand, from the KIT.

Latest Invention: High-Speed Scanner Scans 200-Page Book in 1 Minute

Scientists from Japan recently unveiled anultra-fast scanner that allows scanning a 200-page book in about a minute, eliminating the need of breaking up or flattening the book.

Headed by Professor Masatoshi Ishikawa, the group of researchers from the University of Tokyo managed to come up with a prototype scanner that can scan a book when you quickly flip its pages. The latest invention makes use of a high-speed camera that operates at a speed of 500fps and can generate images that boast a resolution of 1280x1024 pixels. The camera takes the pictures of a page along with its images and text under standard light.

Afterwards a laser projects lines on the book's pages, making it possible for the system to adjust for the distortion of the pages when these are turned. Thus the software is able to reproduce the image into a digitized picture of a standard book page, reports Physorg.com.

The current device is rather bulky, but researchers are looking for ways of miniaturizing it, so it would be possible to incorporate the device into various portable gadgets like smartphones. The Japanese scientists, however, faced certain issues with their latest invention. For instance, the image generated by the device may not be of high resolution and sometimes a person can skip some pages while flipping.

Latest Invention: Technology That Allows Users to See Through Walls and Melt Objects

Researchers from the University of South Australia in collaboration with Nokia started working on one of their latest inventions that would make it possible for users of cell phones to see through walls.

Their latest invention makes use ofaugmented reality (AR), being able to overlay graphics on top of real the video. The AR system comes in three types: X-ray Vision, Meltvision and Distortvision.

According to Dr Christian Sandor, Director of the Magic Vision Lab at UniSA, users prefer Meltvision over X-ray vision, due to a more appealing look, where structures appear to melt away. As for Distortvision, it changes the mobile video picture so that the objects that cannot be seen "bent" so the person could see them in the image.

It would be interesting to note that the researchers have also been working on an invention that would make it possible for users to see and sense virtual objects. The new technology is called Visuo-Haptic Augmented Reality and it allows an individual to manipulate a 3D object by making use of a head mounted screen and touch-based gadgets.

Dr Christian Sandor explains: "The current method for prototyping involves the development of a 3D design using a computer, which can be viewed on screen or printed out in what is a relatively static presentation."

Latest Invention: Tsunami Generator That Could Help Design Disaster-Proof Structures

A group of scientists from the University College London's Earthquake and People Interaction Centre (EPICentre) teamed up with consulting engineers at HR Wallingford One to come up with an invention that could explain how tsunamis work and in future help build disaster-proof buildings. Their latest invention is a wave-generating machine that is able to reproduce the activity of tsunamis.

Besides helping construct buildings that could resist tsunamis, the new machine will also allow develop better evacuation techniques.

Using the 148-foot-long wave channel, researchers were able to mimic the behavior of the first wave of the Boxing Day tsunami that was witnessed by the people of Thailand in 2004.

Although there are other wave simulators, most of them make use of piston-based system, but the new type of tsunami generator for the first time uses air-driven system in which fans along with control valves absorb water in the tank and then release it. Such system allows the machine to produce various tsunami conditions, like the draw-down phenomenon (when the sea is sucks out and then rushes back to the shoreline). Researchers hope their latest invention will be available in countries worldwide.

Latest Invention: Washing Machine That Doesn't Need Water

British company Xeros looks forward to conquer the American market with its latest invention, a new washing system able to save a lot of water using nylon beads. The beads tumble wash clothes using 90 percent less water than traditional washers.

In addition, the company's latest invention, which is currently in the development stage, requires less detergent. Xeros claims that there would be no need for tumble drying and if the homes in the United States would switch to the new system, the emissions of carbon dioxide would be considerably reduced. The result would be as though 5 million vehicles have been removed from the road. The company also says that the new washing machine will save 1.2 billion tons of water each year, which equals 17 million swimming pools.

The washing machines does its job using small nylon beads that eliminate stains off clothes and lock them into the molecular structure of the nylon. The beadscan be used for hundreds of washes and afterwards they can be easily recycled. The technology behind the new washing machine is the result of a research carried out at the University of Leeds. It has been used in a concept washing machine by the Cambridge Consultants.

After carrying out tests for over three years, Xeros, a spinout from the University, managed to achieve an agreement with Kansas City-based GreenEarth Cleaning, which intends to market Xeros' latest invention across North American continent in 2010. You can read more about the product on the company's website.

Top 3 Main Battle Tanks and Fighting Aircrafts of the World's Most Powerful Nations

Most will agree with the fact that currently the three most powerful nations in the world are the United States, Russia and China. Below you will find some of the most powerful tanks and battle aircraftsdeveloped by each of the three nations. This is of course our choice, so it's completely subjective. If you have any information on the topic that you could share, you are welcome and in the meantime you are free to read, compare and express your opinion.

Tanks

Russian Federation

T-90S

The T-90S represents one of the most advanced Russian tanks from the T-series. It features an improved firepower, mobility and protection. The tank was built at Uralvagonzavod, factory located in Nizhnyi Tagil, Russia. It is worth mentioning that the T-90S officially entered the service with the Russian armed forces in 1992.

The tank is developed for a crew of 3 people, its combat weight is 46.5 tons and it features a 4-stroke V-84ms diesel engine with 849hp. The fuel capacity of this battle machine is 1,600l. The range is 650km on paved roads and 500km on unpaved. The tank reaches a speed of 65 km/h.

The information provided by the American Foreign Policy Center says that Russia is currently working on upgrading its main battle tank to the new T-95 version. The features of the new generation battle tank are specified below:

• -Diesel-electric propulsion
• -135mm gun
• -360° sensors and ECM and network-capability
• -pro-active electric reactive armor
• -Weight: over 55 tons
• -ceramics-n-fiber armor, which would replace the usual steel armor
• -virtual reality for the driver and gunner
• -2 crew members will man the tank
• -autoloader for 3 different types of ammo.

Read more on: Tanksim.com

Unites States

M1A2 Abrams

This MBT was developed by General Dynamics Land Systems, which produced the first M1 tank back in 1978, followed by the M1A1 tank, developed in 1985 and GDLS in 1986 by the M1A2. The latter is considered one of the best tanks in the world. However, it includes only a 120mm M256 smoothbore gun, which was manufactured by the German company Rheinmetall GmbH.

The tank is developed for a crew of 4 people, including driver, commander, gunner and loader. It weights 69.54 tons and its ground clearance is 430 meters. The tank reaches a speed of 67.72 km/h.

Read more on: Army-technology.com

People's Republic of China

Type 99/ZTZ99

This tank was developed by NORINCO and is currently the most advanced MBT in the People's Liberation Army. It entered the PLA service in 2001. The Chinese made a great improvement in the tank's firepower mobility, and protection. Due to the high unit price (about $1.9 million per tank in 1999) there were only about 200 ZTZ99 made.

The tank features a dual-axis stabilized 125mm/50-calibre ZPT98 smoothbore gun. It also carries Russian anti-tank missiles called 9M119 Refleks. These missiles are fired from a 125mm gun. ZTZ99 reaches a top speed of80km/h and its weight is about 54 tons.

Read more on: Sinodefence.com

Fighting Aircrafts

Russian Federation

Sukhoi Su-37 Terminator

When Su-37 was developed it was instantly shipped to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) air force as a multi-role version of Russia's previous generation Su-35. The aircraft has a number of features that make it different from other air fighters. It can make a preemptive hit at any air target, even those that are hard to spot. Su-37 has a multichannel redundancy and algorithmic security of all data and targeting systems. It can also hit ground targets at standoff range. The aircraft's all stages of flight and combat are automated.

Read more on: Enemyforces.com

United States

F-22 Raptor

This is one of the newest fighting aircrafts in the armed forces of the United States. The F-22 represents a fusion of stealth, supercruise, maneuverability, and incorporated avionics. It has an upgraded supportability and thus is a great step in warfighting capabilities. Raptor is a powerful weapon in both air-to-air and air-to-ground combats.

It is one of the main weapons of the Global Strike Task Force. F-22 was developed to stop enemy's battle aircrafts from accessing the Air Force, Army, Navy and Marine Corps.

Read more on: Fas.org

People's Republic of China

J-10 Multirole Fighter Aircraft

The J-10 is also called Jianji-10 or Jian-10. It features one engine and represents an all-weather multi-role battle aircraft. It was designed by Chengdu Aircraft Design Instituteand built by the Chengdu Aircraft Corporation(CAC). The Chinese started working on the J-10 project back in the 1980s in order to compete with the fighters from the West (F-16) and Soviet Union MiG-29.

After the end of the Cold War the Chinese moved towards creating a multi-role fighter, which would perform beyond-visual-range air-to-air fight and ground attack. China looked forward to create an air power that could show high defensive and offensive potential.

This aircraft represents one of the highest achievements of China in the aviation industry. During the 1990s the J-10 program included lots of new technologies, such as composite materials, computerized flight-control system dubbed "fly-by-wire", improved radar and cockpit electronics, as well as computer-aided design and many more.

Computers to be Tested on Intelligence

Six computers are going to compete in an experiment that aims to find out if a computer has a potential to think like human.

The experiment, where computers will communicate with human volunteers, is planned to take place on September 13 at the University of Reading. The six computer programs are called Alice, Brother Jerome, Elbot, Eugene Goostman, Jabberwacky and Ultra Hal.

Human interrogators will put the machines to the Turing test, developed to find a computer's ability to demonstrate intelligence. Each of the volunteers will start conversation with one unseen human and one computer program on any subject. After that the volunteers will be asked to tell which is which. The computer is considered to pass the test if the interrogator is unsure or guessed wrong.

The Turning test was developed by a mathematician Alan Turning in 1950 and was described in the article "Computing machinery and intelligence". The renowned scientist studied if it is possible for machines to think. Until now no computer has passed the test, while Turning expected that thinking machines will appear by the year 2000.

The designer of the computer that will succeed in an experiment will be awarded with 18-carat gold medal and $100,000 offered by the Loebner Prize in Artificial Intelligence. The Loebner Prize is organized annually to determine which of the computer systems will demonstrate the most human conversational behavior.

Swype Input Is Now Available For Nokia Phones

The long anticipating Swype input is now available for Nokia Phones.Currently, Swype for Nokia supports the following Nokia S60 5th Edition touch screen phones :-

• Nokia 5800
• Nokia 5230
• Nokia X6
• Nokia N97
• Nokia N97mini

The Most Dangerous Computer Viruses in History

Computer viruses have a relatively short history, but the damages caused by some of them pushed cyber-experts to opening a new chapter on computer viruses. Some viruses led to serious damages and affected a large number of companies, universities and even governments.

Here are some of the most dangerous computer viruses in history:

Jerusalem - 1987

This is one of the first MS-DOS viruses in history that caused enormous destructions, affecting many countries, universities and companies worldwide. On Friday 13, 1988 the computer virus managed to infect a number of institutions in Europe, America and the Middle East. The name was given to the virus after one of the first places that got "acquainted" with it - the Jerusalem University.

Along with a number of other computer viruses, including "Cascade", "Stoned" and "Vienna" the Jerusalem virus managed to infect thousands of computers and still remain unnoticed. Back then the anti-virus programs were not as advanced as they are today and a lot of users had little knowledge of the existence of computer viruses.

Morris (a.k.a. Internet Worm) - November 1988

This computer virus infected over 6,000 computer systems in the United States, including the famousNASA research Institute, which for some time remained completely paralyzed. Due to erratic code, the worm managed to send millions of copies of itself to different network computers, being able to entirely paralyze all network resources. The damages caused by the Morris computer virus were estimated at $96 millions.

To be able to spread, the computer virus used errors in such operating systems as Unix for VAX and Sun Microsystems. The virus could also pick user passwords.

Solar Sunrise - 1998

A decade later the situation didn't change, in fact it even got worse. Using a computer virus, hackers, in 1998, penetrated and took control of over 500 computer systems that belonged to the army, government and private sector of the United States. The whole situation was dubbed Solar Sunrise after the popular vulnerabilities in computers that run on the operating system called Sun Solaris. Initially it was believed that the attacks were planed by the operatives in Iraq. It was later revealed that the incidents represented the work of two American teenagers from California. After the attacks, the Defense Department took drastic actions to prevent future incidents of this kind.

Melissa - 1999

For the first time computers got acknowledged with Melissa computer virus on March 26, 1999, when the virus shut down the Internet mail system, which got blocked with e-mails infected by the worm. It is worth mentioning that at first Melissa was not meant to cause any harm, but after overloading the servers, it led to serious problems. For the first time it spread in the Usenet discussion group alt.sex. Melissa was hidden within a file called "List.DiC", which featured passwords that served as keys to unlocking 80 pornographic websites. The original form of the virus was sent through e-mail to different users.

Melissa computer virus was developed by David L. Smith in Aberdeen Township, New Jersey. Its name comes from a lap dancer that the programmer got acknowledged with while in Florida. After being caught, the creator of the virus was sentenced to 20 months in federal prison and ordered to pay a fine of $5,000. The arrest was made by a team of representatives from FBI, New Jersey State Police and Monmouth Internet.

Melissa had the ability to multiply on Microsoft Word 97 and Word 2000, as well as on Microsoft Excel 97, 2000 and 2003. In addition, the virus had the ability to mass-mail itself from Microsoft Outlook 97 and Outlook 98.

I Love You - May 2000

Using a similar method as the Melissa, the computer virus dubbed "I Love You" managed to infect millions of computers around the world overnight. Just like Melissa this computer virus sent passwords and usernames, which were stored on the attacked computers, back to the developer of the virus. After authorities traced the virus they found that a young Filipino student was behind the attack. The young man was released due to the fact that the Philippines did not have any law that would prevent hacking and spreading malware. This situation served as one of the premises for creating the European Union's global Cybercrime Treaty.

The Code Red worm - July 2001

This 21st century computer virus managed to penetrate tens of thousands of systems that ran Microsoft Windows NT and Windows 2000 server software. The damages caused by the Code Red computer virus were estimated at $2 billion. Core Red was developed to use the power of all computers it infected against the official website of the White House at a predetermined date. In collaboration with different virus hunters and tech firms, the White House managed to decipher the code of the Code Red virus and stop traffic as the malware started its attacks.

Nimda - 2001

Shortly after the September 11 tragedy this computer virus infected hundreds of thousands of computers worldwide. Nimda was considered to be one of the most complicated viruses, having 5 different methods of infecting computers systems and being able to duplicate itself.

Downadup - 2009

The latest and most dangerous virus is the "downadup" worm, which was also called "Conficker". The computer security company F-Secure stated that the computer virus has infected 3.5 million computers worldwide. This malicious program was able to spread using a patched Windows flaw. Downadup was so "successful" in spreading across the Web, because it used a flaw that Microsoft patched in October in order to distantly compromise computers that ran unpatched versions of Microsoft's operating system. But the greatest power of the worm is believed to be the ability of computers, infected with the worm, to download destructive code from a random drop point. F-Secure stated that three of the most affected countries were China, Brazil and Russia.