Technology updates

Camera in contact lens? Google is working on it

NEW DELHI: It seems that Glass, the head-mounted tiny computer and camera, is just a beginning for the Google. The company's ambitions when it comes to what we see and how we process the information go beyond a smart glass. According to a Google application published by the patent office in the US, the company is working to integrate a tiny camera into contact lenses. The camera will be able to record and capture what a user is looking at.

However, the big potential, as described in the patent applications, seems to be the ability of Google's special contact lens to process the information and send it to a peripheral devices, which may give blind people a way to "see" the world around them. For example, by acting as the "eyes", this contact lens may give turn-by-turn voice guidance to people who can't see by relaying information to a smartphone or an earpiece.

The patent application was first spotted by Patent Bolt, a website that tracks newly-filed patent applications.

The applications credits Nathan Pletcher, Babak Amir Parviz and Olivia Hatalsky as inventors of the contact lens with the camera. The same team is also behind the Google contact lens that will reportedly have a sensor to monitor glucose level in the body. Details of this contact lens were revealed by Google in January this year.

The patent application filed by Google says, "this disclosure relates to systems and/or methods for capturing image data representing a scene in a gaze of a viewer via a thin image capture component integrated on or within a contact lens, processing the image data and employing the processed image data to perform functions locally on the contact lens or remotely on one or more remote devices."

In notes that accompany drawings in the patent application, Google says that its contact lens will not obstruct the viewing field of the user. It also says that the camera in the contact lens will be able to follow the gaze of a viewer.

"As the wearer's gaze shifts, the contact lens will follow the shift in gaze, thereby allowing for generating the image data corresponding to an image of the scene in the shifted gaze. Additionally, the image data can be processed to detect light, colours, pattern of colours, objects, faces, motion, or any other suitable information that can be derived from processing one or more images," Google notes in the patent application.

LG G Flex review: There is the curve, but there is a lot more too

Written by Nandagopal Rajan | April 16, 2014 7:35 pm

SUMMARY

There is nothing in the curve that really makes you buy this phone. But there is a lot in the phone that can make you take this curve.

LG G Flex has a curved screen that can flex itself if needed.

Related video............................

Windows Phone 8.1 fixes most problems of earlier versions

If you already have a Windows phone or are thinking of getting one, the new features should please you.

SUMMARY

New phone models will ship with Windows Phone 8.1 next month. Existing phones will get free updates.

Microsoft’s new Windows system for smartphones addresses many of the shortcomings in previous versions. Before, voice search lacked the natural language interactions of Apple’s Siri and Google Now. The updated Windows Phone system has Cortana, which combines Siri’s personality with Google Now’s knack for anticipating what you need before you even ask.

Meanwhile, Windows Phone’s lack of a central hub for checking notifications from Facebook and other services has been addressed with a new Action Center. Beyond that, the new Windows Phone 8.1 has tools to simplify connecting to Wi-Fi hotspots, save battery life and block non-emergency calls overnight.

The new system still doesn’t address one of my major frustrations: There aren’t as many apps for Windows smartphones compared with iPhones and Android phones. The Windows store is getting better and has many popular apps such as Facebook and Netflix. But now and then, you’ll encounter something that only your iPhone and Android friends have. That includes apps for my bank and JetBlue. If you already have a Windows phone or are thinking of getting one, the new features should please you.

I reviewed Cortana separately on Monday and found plenty to like, even though it’s still in a “beta” test mode and has kinks to work out.

This screen shot shows the home screen of a phone running the Windows Phone 8.1 operating system. (AP Photo)

Action Center

You get notifications from various apps by pulling the Action Center own from the top of the screen like a window shade. It’s similar to what iPhones and Android phones offer.

The Action Center also has four buttons at the top for frequently used settings and tools, such as airplane mode, similar to Apple’s Control Center. But Windows lets you choose the four options you need most, while the iPhone picks for you. What Windows doesn’t offer, though, is quick access to a flashlight app, as the iPhone does.

Quiet hours

You can ask the phone to block calls, texts and notifications during certain hours, or turn the feature on when you’re at a movie or concert. Unlike merely shutting down your phone, though, you can set exceptions — such as calls from family members or emergencies, as defined by someone trying again within three minutes. The iPhone has a similar feature. Android doesn’t, though Samsung includes one in its phones.

Wi-Fi hotspots

Windows Phone surpasses both iOS and Android in letting you automatically connect to known Wi-Fi hotspots. You can have it accept hotspots’ terms of service automatically, so you aren’t interrupted with prompts while trying to get to the senseless cat video. I haven’t gotten this to work yet, though. It’ll take time and more users for Microsoft to build a database of known hotspots.

This feature, called Wi-Fi Sense, also lets you share your home Wi-Fi connection with friends without having to give them your password. When they visit, their phones will connect to your home router automatically as long as they are on your contact list. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work if your friend has an iPhone or Android phone, or even a Windows laptop or tablet.

Conserving power

A battery saver tool will monitor which apps use the most power and prevent some of them from running in the background when your charge is low. Sony, Samsung and other phone makers are starting to add such tools, but there’s nothing universal for Android or iPhones.

Keyboard swipes

Instead of tapping on keys one by one to type, you can slide from key to key, without lifting your finger between characters. Many Android phones already have this. I’m still a tapper myself, but some people find sliding to be faster.

One Windows

There are essentially two classes of Windows: Windows Phone for smartphones and the regular Windows for tablets, laptops and desktops.

The two are starting to merge, but true unification hasn’t arrived yet. For instance, you can customize the phone’s People app so it tracks news feeds from your favorite social networks, but when you go to People on a tablet, you need to set that up again, even though Microsoft’s OneDrive storage service promises to sync all your devices.

In that sense, Windows Phone remains a work in progress. It incorporates plenty of great ideas, which I’m sure will work seamlessly one day. Likewise, as usage grows beyond the 3 percent worldwide market share it had last year, more apps will follow.

There’s no need to abandon your iPhone or Android phone yet, but Windows Phone is worth watching as it develops.

HOW TO GET IT: Microsoft made a preview version available for software developers this week. New phone models will ship with Windows Phone 8.1 next month, while existing phones will get free updates over the next few months.

Galaxy S5 fingerprint scanner hacked with ease

Samsung did not learn from the mistake of Apple. Result: The fingerprint scanner in its flagship phone Galaxy S5 is as insecure and poorly implemented as the one in iPhone 5S, which debuted last year. A German security firm, SRLabs that hacked the fingerprint scanner in iPhone 5S last year by spoofing fingerprint, has showed that the same method can be used to bypass the fingerprint authentication in Galaxy S5.

SRLabs posted a video showing that a Galaxy S5 using fingerprint authentication can be easily broken using a mould that has fingerprint impression of the phone user. The firm said that creating the mould doesn't require much effort.

"Despite being one of the flagship features of Galaxy S5, Samsung's implementation of fingerprint authentication leaves much to be desired," the firm said. "Perhaps most concerning is that Samsung does not seem to have learned from what others have done poorly."


SRLabs says that the implementation of fingerprint scanner in Galaxy S5 is even more shoddy than what was found in iPhone 5S. Apple requires a password after every reboot before users can unlock their iPhone 5S with fingerprint scanner. It also requires a password after a certain number of failed attempts with fingerprint scanner.

But in the case of Galaxy S5, users can make any number of attempts to unlock the device with fingerprint scanner. Also, a reboot doesn't lock the fingerprint scanning feature.

In its video, SRLabs highlights that using the Galaxy S5 fingerprint hack, an attacker can enter the Paypal app on the phone and steal money with ease.

In its post about the fingerprint scanner in iPhone 5S, SRLabs wrote that the technology had long way to go before it could be considered safe. "Users leave copies of their fingerprints everywhere; including on the devices they protect. Fingerprints are not fit for secure local user authentication as long as spoofs (fake fingers) can be produced from these pervasive copies," said the firm.

Bend it, charge it, dunk it: Graphene, the material of tomorrow

Nick Bilton,New York Times | Apr 14, 2014, 12.32 PM IST

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Graphene is the strongest, thinnest material known to exist. A form of carbon, it can conduct electricity and heat better than anything else.

No, fans of "The Graduate," the word isn't "plastics."

It's "graphene."

Graphene is the strongest, thinnest material known to exist. A form of carbon, it can conduct electricity and heat better than anything else. And get ready for this: It is not only the hardest material in the world, but also one of the most pliable.

Only a single atom thick, it has been called the wonder material.

Graphene could change the electronics industry, ushering in flexible devices, supercharged quantum computers, electronic clothing and computers that can interface with the cells in your body.

While the material was discovered a decade ago, it started to gain attention in 2010 when two physicists at the University of Manchester were awarded the Nobel Prize for their experiments with it. More recently, researchers have zeroed in on how to commercially produce graphene.

The American Chemical Society said in 2012 that graphene was discovered to be 200 times stronger than steel and so thin that a single ounce of it could cover 28 football fields. Chinese scientists have created a graphene aerogel, an ultralight material derived from a gel, that is one-seventh the weight of air. A cubic inch of the material could balance on one blade of grass.

"Graphene is one of the few materials in the world that is transparent, conductive and flexible — all at the same time," said Dr Aravind Vijayaraghavan, a lecturer in nanomaterials at the University of Manchester. "All of these properties together are extremely rare to find in one material."

So what do you do with graphene? Physicists and researchers say that we will soon be able to make electronics that are thinner, faster and cheaper than anything based on silicon, with the option of making them clear and flexible. Long-lasting batteries that can be submerged in water are another possibility.

In 2011, researchers at Northwestern University built a battery that incorporated graphene and silicon, which the university said could lead to a cellphone that "stayed charged for more than a week and recharged in just 15 minutes." In 2012, the American Chemical Society said that advancements in graphene were leading to touch-screen electronics that "could make cellphones as thin as a piece of paper and foldable enough to slip into a pocket."

Vijayaraghavan is building an array of sensors out of graphene — including gas sensors, biosensors and light sensors — that are far smaller than what has come before.

And last week, researchers at the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology, working with Sungkyunkwan University in South Korea, said that Samsung had discovered how to create high-quality graphene on silicon wafers, which could be used for the production of graphene transistors. Samsung said in a statement that these advancements meant it could start making "flexible displays, wearables and other next-generation electronic devices."

Sebastian Anthony, a reporter at Extreme Tech, said that Samsung's breakthrough could end up being the "holy grail of commercial graphene production."

Samsung is not the only company working to develop graphene. Researchers at IBM, Nokia and SanDisk have been experimenting with the material to create sensors, transistors and memory storage.

When these electronics finally hit store shelves, they could look and feel like nothing we've ever seen.

James Hone, a professor of mechanical engineering at Columbia University, said research in his lab led to the discovery that graphene could stretch by 20% while remaining able to conduct electricity.

"You know what else you can stretch by 20%? Rubber," he said. "In comparison, silicon, which is in today's electronics, can only stretch by 1% before it cracks."

He continued, "That's just one of the crazy things about this material — there's really nothing else quite like it."

The real kicker? Graphene is inexpensive.

If you think of something in today's electronics industry, it can most likely be made better, smaller and cheaper with graphene.

Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley made graphene speakers last year that delivered sound at quality equal to or better than a pair of commercial Sennheiser earphones. And they were much smaller.

Another fascinating aspect of graphene is its ability to be submerged in liquids without oxidizing, unlike other conductive materials.

As a result, Vijayaraghavan said, graphene research is leading to experiments where electronics can integrate with biological systems. In other words, you could have a graphene gadget implanted in you that could read your nervous system or talk to your cells.

But while researchers believe graphene will be used in next-generation devices, there are entire industries that build electronics using traditional silicon chips and transistors, and they could be slow to adopt graphene counterparts.

If that is the case, graphene might end up being used in other industries before it becomes part of electronics. Last year, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation paid for the development of a graphene-based condom that is thin, light and impenetrable. Carmakers are exploring building electronic cars with bodies made of graphene that are not only protective, but act as solar panels that charge the car's battery. Aircraft makers also hope to build planes out of graphene.

If all that isn't enough, an international team of researchers based at MIT has performed tests that could lead to the creation of quantum computers, which would be a big market of computing in the future.

So forget plastics. There's a great future in graphene. Think about it.

Karbonn says it has reached a stage where setting up a plant in India makes sense