Category: Tech

Latest Technology News, Alternative, Bio-Tech, Medical, R&D and Innovations

Everything You Want to Know About 3D Printers

3D printers are the next big thing. These devices are touted to bring the industrial age where manufacturing will shift from giant warehouses to homes. The technology has been used to make small tools to houses. 3D printing can truly pave the way to the next generation economy. For those of you still oblivious to this fantastic feat of engineering, we bring you all that you need to know about the technology that might actually change your life.

The 3D printing or additive manufacturing (AM) is a technique by which you can create or recreate a three-dimensional object. The 3D printers are also considered to be industrial robots for their manufacturing aptitude. The technology utilises computer-aided formation of objects by laying successive layers of materials. The materials can vary from plastic to metals like silver, steel, and titanium.

A Chinese company was able to make 10 houses through 3D printing.

What can you do with it?

With AM, you can even create complex objects with intricate moving bits. Designers and engineers have created working electric car models in a duration of just 44 hours. Of course, they used an industrial-sized printer, but the fact remains that this technology could bring manufacturing closer to home and decrease the massive amount of investment that goes into bringing the product from factory to shop. The 3D printing is exceptionally economical as it can create complex parts for machines, cars and even airplanes at a fraction of the cost of conventional processes. The printers can be scaled down and up easily depending on the requirement.

The printers are also capable of creating electronic circuitry so it might only be a matter of time before you can get OTA updates for a new phone altogether. This, coupled with technological experiences gained by developments like Project Ara, would help in creating the next generation eco-friendly devices that are also economical.

Human body organ replacements can also be printed.

The 3D printers are also being used in the health industry. Using biological data, researchers have printed replacement organs for humans. The technology is also being used in food design and has let artists create some cool looking treats.

These printers will come really handy to space travelers. Instead of carrying a massive inventory of spares and tools, they can simply carry a printer on board that will create the spares they need. This will clear more space for human utilisation and make the spacefarers self-sufficient in the long run.

How does it do it?

3D Printers use computer-aided designs to create printable models.

The first step in the process of 3D printing is acquiring the 3D model of the object that you want to print. This can be done manually by using modelling softwares. There has been an influx of a lot of softwares intended to print 3D objects. You can easily get free softwares where you can create rudimentary objects or if you have the stomach for it, you can go for professional softwares like 3ds Max or Autodesk Maya.

There are also a lot of websites that offer predesigned objects that you can download. Websites like Thingiverse have a lot of options to choose from to try out your hand at creating stuff off computer designs right in your homes.

And if that’s still out of your technological proficiency, then the printers itself lets you scan the images that you are trying to recreate. It’s easier than easy with the 3D printing.

Where can I get it?

Printing powerhouse HP has also come up with its Multi Jet Fusion 3D printer.

Presently, the devices cost truly a bomb, but for what they can do, they are a bang for the bucks. Printers like the Makerbot come at a premium price of Rs. 3,50,000, which may actually be cheap for an enterprise segment. You can also get lower-priced models for home usage for just above a lakh rupees, and they will give you great ease in making prototypes. Even big brands have seen the potential of the technology and have started working on their own models, one of the prominent names is HP’s Multi Jet Fusion technology.

The 3D printing revolution is here, and it needs its revolutionaries. Manufacturing science is a great area of study that really require people. If you are an engineering student looking for a field of study, then manufacturing should be it. And if you are a kind of person who likes to create the future, keep your eyes on the 3D printers, they are about to change the world.

October 23, 2015
The Apple Watch is Finally Coming to India

Apple is all set to launch the Apple Watch in India. The company’s India website now features a Watch option on the top along with other Apple products. The smartwatch will hit the stores on November 6th, according to the website.

The Apple Watch was first unveiled in March and began rolling out in April with a few countries at a time. The Watch is available in two variants – 38 mm and 42 mm. The US price of the Apple Watch’s base Sport model is $349 (around Rs. 23,000), which can be expected to cost close to Rs. 30,000 in India. The company has launched close to 34 combinations of the Watch with prices going as high as $10,000 for the Watch edition.

Apple has been mum on how well the Apple Watch has been doing. The company has also refused to disclose how many units it has sold till date. Apple CEO Tim Cook said that the information was privileged and that he didn’t want to “help the competition.” That hasn’t stopped analysts trying to come up with an estimate. Some analysts have said that Apple has managed to ship 4.2 million units in the last three months.

Apple recently unveiled the new watchOS 2, the updated system software for the Apple Watch, which brought features like activation lock, native apps, email reply and more. You can also use Messenger on the Apple Watch.

The biggest challenge is whether the Indian market is ready for wearable technologies like a smartwatch. It may be a while before consumers are ready to have something expensive around their wrists, and initial sales may not be as big as one is used to when an Apple product launches in India. However, the news has already gotten Indian developers building apps for the Watch, and some of the first ones include the likes of Cleartrip, HDFC Bank app, and Avaamo among others.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ql0Z8Il73s

October 23, 2015
Samsung Officially Launches the Galaxy On5 and On7 Smartphones

Lately, we’ve been hearing a lot about Samsung’s newest budget phones, the Galaxy On5 and On7. The devices were briefly listed in the companies website a few days ago and we understood some specs of the devices. Samsung has now officially launched the phones and here’s what we know.

The On5 and On7 are pretty similar to each other and are equipped with a 1.3 GHz 32-bit quad-core Samsung Exynos 3475 processor paired with a Mali-T720 MP1 GPU and 1.5 GB of RAM. The phones come with a really low 8 GB internal storage, but are expandable up to 128 GB via MicroSD slot.

The Galaxy On7 and the Galaxy On5 feature 5.5-inch and 5.0-inch Super AMOLED display, respectively. Another point of difference between them is the camera. The Galaxy On5 has an 8-megapixel rear camera while the On7 houses a 13-megapixel sensor rear, and they both sport a 5-megapixel front. Meanwhile, the On7 has a bigger 3000mAh battery compared to On5’s 2,600mAh.

Samsung has in all likelihood cut down on bloatware for the two devices seeing as it comes only with an 8 GB internal storage. However, even with reduced bloatware, an 8 GB phone will be a tough sell for buyers. One will have to wait and see how people take to Samsung’s new phones.

As far as pricing is concerned there has been no word on it yet, though the expected prices stand at $150 for the On5 and around $200 for the On7. The phones are expected to launch in markets outside China in the next few months.

October 23, 2015
Instagram’s New Boomerang App Lets You Create 1-second GIF-Like Videos

Over the past few months, Instagram has been playing around with some new features to bring the app out of a stale mode. A couple of months ago, the photo-sharing app introduced a landscape feature that helped Instagram break free from its traditional square photos. Last night, Instagram brought a new feature that allows users to make GIF-like videos that go forward and backwards in a loop.

The standalone app is called ‘Boomerang’ and it is available for iOS and Android users. The app is very easy to use. It takes a burst of 10 photos and turns it into a 1-second video loop. So if you find something moving and feel it would make for a fun, interesting loop, just point and shoot and the app will do the rest. Once your GIF-like video is ready, you can share it on Instagram or Facebook.

Photos can be taken in portrait or landscape mode and the final video will be saved to your camera roll. The app is fast and simple to use and doesn’t require users to have Instagram accounts.

Facebook-owned Instagram introduced the new app last night in a blog post. “Transform an ordinary selfie with your friends into a funny video. Get that exact moment when your friend blows out his birthday candles, then watch them come back to life again and again.” Watch the video below to get a better idea of how Boomerang works.

https://vimeo.com/143161189

Boomerang is the third standalone app introduced by Instagram. Last August, it introduced ‘Hyperlapse’ for time lapse videos using stabilization technology, and earlier this year it came out with ‘Layout’ that lets you create photo collages.

The app is kind of like Apple’s new Live Photos feature on the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus that takes Harry Potter-esque moving images. Instagram is looking to make its five year old photo sharing app vibrant again with Boomerang. The idea is to bring something new that will especially attract the teen demographic. At only 12.1 MB, the app is super light and a delight to use. Download the app now and look for moments around you worth capturing and repeating.

October 23, 2015
Facebook Admits its App is Sucking Your iPhone’s Battery Dry

Last week we had mentioned that the Facebook app for iOS may be the reason why your iPhone’s battery is draining faster than usual. Facebook has now confirmed that it is indeed their iOS app that is causing the battery issue. Many users have reported that the Facebook app in the battery menu shows as consuming quite a bit of battery even when usage is at a minimum.

“We found a few key issues and have identified additional improvements, some of which are in the version of the app that was released today,” wrote Facebook’s Ari Grant yesterday.

The first issue we found was a “CPU spin” in our network code. A CPU spin is like a child in a car asking, “Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?”with the question not resulting in any progress to reaching the destination. This repeated processing causes our app to use more battery than intended. The version released today has some improvements that should start making this better.

Indeed, Facebook did come out with an iOS update yesterday (as it usually does every 2 weeks for improvement in speed and reliability). The update description did not mention any ‘bug’ fixes, but going by the word of Grant, you may start seeing some improvements once you’ve updated the app.

Another issue for battery drain is due to the way Facebook handles audio playback. “If you leave the Facebook app after watching a video, the audio session sometimes stays open as if the app was playing audio silently. This is similar to when you close a music app and want to keep listening to the music while you do other things, except in this case it was unintentional and nothing kept playing. The app isn’t actually doing anything while awake in the background, but it does use more battery simply by being awake,” Grant said, promising that their new fixes will solve this issue and will remove background audio completely.

You can download the update now, if you haven’t already. Don’t expect the update to solve all the battery issues at once. It may take a couple of more updates for Facebook to completely be rid of bugs that are sucking all the juice.

Source: [tw-button size=”medium” background=”#07ABE2″ color=”” target=”_blank” link=”https://www.facebook.com/arig/posts/10105815276466163?pnref=story”]Facebook[/tw-button]

October 23, 2015
Retractable Screen For iPhone That Act As Shock Absorbers During Falls

One universal flaw iPhone users all over have had trouble dealing with is the delicateness of their devices. No one is new to cracked or out an out shattered screens of these Apple devices. However, the company might have finally managed to find a solution for this.

In a patent called ‘Active screen protection for electronic device‘, Apple is looking at solving the problem of fragile iPhone screens. The idea is to attach a retractable tab to the screen. If the device senses a fall, the tab would deploy outwards creating a gap between the screen and the surface, reducing impact, and therefore, damage to the device.

Modern iOS devices have various components that are equipped with drop sensing technology. Apple has shown interest in the past as well for active fall protection but the required patented hardware is yet to be incorporated in the company’s lineup. The patent for active screen protection was first filed in April 2014, under Tyson B. Manullang, Stephen B. Lynch and Emery A. Sanford as its inventors.

In the meantime, Apple has been busy working on touch oriented technology like 3D Touch. Consequently, the new iPhones -6s and 6s Plus – come equipped with specialized Corning glass which provides support for this feature, while at the same time providing protection against scratches and breakage.

October 23, 2015
Beddi is a Smartphone Alarm Dock that is Really Affordable

There have been many smartphone alarm docs over the years. Most of them haven’t found too many buyers for reasons related to limited functionality and an expensive price tag. But Kickstarter and Indiegogo are trying to bring back the smart alarm clock and make it fun and affordable again.

Witti is the company behind the new Beddi smart alarm clock, backed by Kickstarter and Indiegogo. Beddi is a bedside alarm that also works as a Bluetooth speaker, and a lot more. The dock can also hook up to Uber, Spotify and Nest as well. Once your phone is paired over Bluetooth, you can set three presets in Beddi to either call an Uber taxi, toggle a Spotify playlist, control the temperature on your Nest or switch on a Philips Hue light.

Firstly, the dock houses your iOS or Android phone in landscape mode on top. The dock also serves as a charging hub for your devices with two USB ports. The system gives you morning traffic updates using Google Maps, FM radio, and even has a built-in white noise generator for a good night’s sleep.

The Kickstarter project has doubled its funding goal, and if you purchase the dock through Kickstarter, you’ll get it at just $75 a piece or at $115 for two. The actual price of the dock stands at $100, which is highly affordable considering what the dock has to offer. Beddi will begin shipping worldwide in June 2016. Have a look at the Beddi in the video below.

Source: [tw-button size=”medium” background=”#07ABE2″ color=”” target=”_self” link=”https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/26398080/beddi-intelligent-alarm-clock-the-smartest-way-to”]Kickstarter[/tw-button]

October 23, 2015
Huawei Replaces Xiaomi as China’s No. 1 Smartphone Manufacturer

Research firm Canalys reports that Huawei has replaced Xiaomi as the number one manufacturer of smartphones in China, a first for Huawei to have topped the ranking. While Xiaomi’s sales declined, Huawei’s increased by an 81% over the last one year. Though Canalys didn’t share the exact details, the firm says other details will be made available by the end of this month.

Both Xiaomi and Huawei have been warmly welcomed in the country as well, providing smartphones with impressive specs and price-tags friendly with the average Indian pocket. Huawei however has been more in news lately primarily because of one of the two latest Google Nexus smartphones. Nexus 6P is the device which is made by Huawei and has provided a high-end gadget to the smartphone industry.

Huawei Nexus 6P

Xiaomi on the other hand grabbed the limelight with its Mi 4c, which has similar specs as the other Nexus device launched recently, Nexus 5X, but at half the price. You can find the entire comparison here. While the two tech giants fight it out in the world, tell us your preference in the comments below.

October 23, 2015
Here’s How Facebook is Set to Kickstart Your Programming Career

Facebook initially started with the likes of Orkut and Twitter but has expanded its horizons further. Stepping out of the safety net of being the world’s largest social networking site, it has now gone a step further and introduced TechPrep. What’s that?

It is a new initiative with consulting mogul, McKinsey & Company that will help people by offering tutorials, tools and games to help kids kickstart their careers in Computer Programming. Sounds heavy, doesn’t it? But the whole point of this initiative is to reach out to children and parents all over who don’t have the resources to educate them in Programming.

Congressperson Eddie Bernice Johnson, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, said in a statement.

“When so much of our present and our future is dependent on computer science and programming, we cannot afford to continue hemorrhaging so much talent. We must all work together to leverage our respective strengths and resources to tackle this issue.”

Facebook plans to concentrate on high populations of Black and Latino people who are either lower-income families or belong to generations of non-college or graduate parents.

Facebook Global Director of Diversity Maxine Williams stated in an interview with TechCrunch:

“What we see around coding and programming, is that there are some communities in which, because the parents’ capacity is not there, we’re losing whole generations of people who could be guided into these really lucrative, engaging, satisfying careers.”

In a country where we churn out ‘Techies’ ruthlessly, it might be strange to believe that TechPrep actually stemmed from a lack of ‘coloured’ people working in the field of computer sciences. Facebook itself as company consists of 55% white people. Therefore, they felt like if they themselves make computer programming accessible to a larger expanse of the American coloured population, they would actually be encouraging people to pick a lucrative career in this field, thereby increasing their workforce.

We had previously told you why coding is important in today’s day and age. Facebook’s TechPrep just proved our stance.

So check it out, you might be Programming like a pro before you know it.

October 22, 2015
Nextbit Robin- First of its Kind Cloud Storage Phone, Up For Pre-Order In India

Time to kiss those storage blues goodbye with Nextbit Robin -the first smartphone to offer cloud storage. The “cloud-first” smartphone, is now available for pre-orders in India, along with a bunch of other regions. The price of the phone is Rs. 26,000 ($399), which excludes shipping charges of Rs. 4,600 ($70). The phone will be officially released in August.

A startup made up of tech experts with experience of working in Apple, Google and HTC previously, Nextbit Robin is equipped with features sure to woo customers, the highlight of which is the cloud-based storage option. The phone promises no more storage woes by automatically backing up your data to the cloud, and therefore emptying the phone’s inherent storage.

Robin was initially put up as a Kickstarter project from where it received an immense response of $1,362,000 (about Rs. 8.9 crores) in terms of funding. The company’s goal had been no more than $500,000 or about Rs. 3.26 crores.

Nextbit Robin Mint

The specifications of Nexbit Robin include a 5.2 inch HD screen along with 1080×1920 p resolution. The plastic body of the phone has Qualcomm hexa-core Snapdragon 808 processor on the inside. 3 GB RAM and 32 GB of in-built non-expandable storage are some of its other specs. The phone also boasts of a fingerprint sensor.

Nextbit Robin Midnight

In terms of the two cameras, the phone packs a 13 MP for the main camera and a 5 MP for the front camera. The battery is marked at a 2,689 mAh, and it has a USB Type-C port. The operating system is Android 6.0 Marshmallow. There are two colour variants for the handset: Mint and Midnight.

October 22, 2015
The Future is Here with the New Hendo Hoverboard

Yesterday was Back to the Future Day around the world. For those who aren’t familiar with the concept, Back to the Future Day comes only once a lifetime, and that was on 21st October, 2015. This day is celebrated because in 1989’s Back to the Future II film, Marty McFly and Doc Brown travel 26 years to the future and land on October 21st, 2015. So naturally, fans of the film around the world were excited to have finally reached the ‘future’.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plwX5NtF530

One of the things that makes the day so exciting is that in the movie, the 2015 future had a hoard of futuristic technology like self-tying shoes, hoverboard, artificial intelligence and all that jazz. And what’s more exciting is that the movie got most of the predictions right.

We celebrated the day in our own way as well by listing 6 techs that the movie predicted correctly about 2015. Companies like Nike were also paying homage to the cult franchise by launching self-tying shoes that were seen in the movie. But no Back to the Future Day is complete without a hoverboard. So the makers behind the Hendo overboard also joined the celebration with their newest version of the hoverboard.

Arx Pax teased new details about the hoverboard last week, like better battery life, USB connectivity, stronger hover engines, and a safety kill switch.The new design looks quite spectacular and in keeping with the future.

The skateboard deck sits on traditional skateboard trucks, which is also where four hover engines connect to the main body. This will help riders shift their weight around much like a traditional skateboard. Another cool piece of information is that the new hoverboard is designed by none other than pro-skater Tony Hawk.

Just to be clear, none of the Hendo Hoverboards run on the street. The magnets below the board need a copper flooring to repel off in order to hover. So you can push off and hover as as long as there is a copper runway. But it’s a start.

The new hoverboard will first go to Kickstarter backers who pledged $10,000 to the company last year. Are Pax has said that the backers were companies who wish to open hoverboard parks of their own. The company has also stated that the hover boards won’t be consumer ready but there has been great progress in the hovering technology that would even make Marty proud. And it does bring the dream of owning your own overboard closer than ever.

October 22, 2015
Why Apple Limited Functionality of 3D Touch

3D Touch is definitely one of the most talked about features of the new iPhones. This is a highly sensitive touch technology which is able to differentiate between three different kinds of touch. In simpler terms it means easier, quicker shortcuts for the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus users.

However, Apple deliberately limited the functionality of this new feature, according to sources. Developer Victor Baro says,

“We need to take into account that, because 3D Touch is only available in iPhone 6S and 6S Plus, no action should be completed just by using this feature,” he said. “The user should be able to achieve any action without using 3D Touch (just like Peek & Pop does), and 3D Touch should only provide an extra level of interaction.”

Similarly, other developers have also pointed out how 3D Touch would allow users an entire range of features likethe ability to apply filters to images only using force on the screen, being an example. Take a look at developer FlexMonkey’s blog post right here to see what else 3D Touch has to offer.

One of the main reasons why Apple didn’t introduce many features with 3D Touch this time is that the company wants users to be more familiar with the technology first. The introduction of 3D Touch to iPhone 6s and 6s Plus is an attempt to familiarise users before they can be introduced to a more complex technological advancement.

Additionally, Apple also wants the same set of core features for all iOS users, irrespective of the device they’re using. Granted, all such devices are different from each other in many ways, but the essential requirements for apps to run is quite similar in all iOS 9 gadgets. Apple has thus made life easier for developers by making sure 3D Touch is only used for shortcuts at the moment.

iPhone 7 is the Apple device which is likely to bring in more 3D Touch features with it. Following from the rumours of getting rid of the home button we talked about yesterday, 3D Touch might be used to take care of tasks by replacing it. It seems like a long wait until iPhone 7 for us to find out more about 3D Force, but waiting is what we shall do for now.

October 22, 2015
Mac Malware Reaches an All-Time High

It’s a myth that your Mac is the most malware-free PC out there. That perhaps used to be the case, and one reason behind it was that hackers were more attracted to Windows due to their larger presence in the market. But not anymore. Over the years there has been a change. Apple’s share of the PC has grown and, of course, hackers are all too aware of that.

There has been an increase in malware specifically targeting Apple’s Mac platform. What’s more is that the malware is a lot more dangerous and sophisticated than one would think. According to reports from BleepingComputer, 2015 was the most malware-ridden year for the Mac. The reports summarised the findings from Bit9 and Carbon Black that state that OS X malware this year was five times more prevalent than the preceding five years combined.

Bit9 and Carbon Black also released a chart that leaves everything quite clear.

According to the chart, there was about 180 instances of malware during the period of 2010-2014, while 2015 saw a whopping 948 instances, and there’s still a couple of months to the end of this year.

BleepingComputer also listed some of the most common OS X malware found this year. This is based on a 10 week study with over 1400 unique malware samples collected and analysed. The common ones are narrowed down were:

Lamadai – backdoor Trojan targeting a Java vulnerability.
Kitm – ran commands on machines for victims at the Oslo Freedom Forum
Hackback – ran commands on machines for victims at the Oslo Freedom Forum
LaoShu – spam via undelivered mail parcels
Appetite – Trojan targeting government organizations
Coin Thief – stole bitcoin login credentials via cracked AngryBird applications.

Another point to note is that while there are a number of malware being floating around these days, not all are dangerous. Apple has protected itself from most. The issue is, however, that there is a rise in the number of malware targeting Macs. The onus is on Apple to take this into serious consideration and work to make its future OS X updates safer.

October 22, 2015
Fossil Unveils the Q Founder Android Wear Smartwatch

We’ve all seen Apple, Samsung and Motorola coming out with smartwatches, and people are slowly but surely getting used to the idea of having a watch that also functions as a phone. So it only makes sense that a brand that has been in the watch making business forever comes out with a smartwatch and joins the next-gen party. Fossil has unveiled its newest Android Wear smartwatches headed by the Q Founder. The Q Founder is the flagship device and is part of Fossil’s Q lineup of connected wearables.

Fossil has four new smartwatches in its kitty – the Q Reveler, Q Dreamer, Q Grant and, of course, the Q Founder. The first three are standard analogue timepieces with electronics built into the bands. The Fossil Q Grant is an analogue fitness tracker while the Q Reveler and the Q Dreamer are a pair of connected smart bracelets. Moreover, the Q Reveler and Q Dreamer are $125 each, while the Q Grant is priced between $175-$195.

The flagship Q Founder runs Android Wear and features a full touchscreen display. The Founder will start at a price of $275. While many companies have opted for Qualcomm-powered chipset in their Android Wear, Fossil and Tag Heuer have announced watches with an Intel CPU. Fossil has not revealed the official release date of the device but sources suggest that it could come in time for the holiday season.

This is a major game changer in the smartwatch department since Fossil will give brands like Apple and Motorola a run for its money. Fossil not only has a more traditional looking design with its smartwatch, but it also knows the business a lot more and its retail footprint means people are more likely to notice Fossil’s Android Wear device than those that are only seen online or at electronic stores. Tag Heuer will also launch its own smartwatch some time in November.

October 22, 2015
The iPhone May Lose its Home Button

There is no possibility that we’re getting a look at the next iPhone before the second half of next year, but why should that stop us from speculating about that one device everyone loves to hate?

Piper Jaffrey analyst Gene Munster writes in a blog post,

“3D Touch may provide Apple with a way to eliminate the home button on the phone and use the additional space to make the screen bigger or make the device smaller. One barrier to this could be Touch ID, which is integrated into the home button currently. Apple would need to move the Touch ID reader to potentially the side of the phone to remove the home button.”

Could it be possible then? iPhone 7 is also expected to be smaller in design with negligible or no changes to the screen size. Additionally, Apple recently filed a patent which suggests that the company wants to put Touch ID behind the display instead of the side, same as what Munster mentions.

At the same time, there have been other patents as well which have hinted at not only keeping the home button but also adding new features and technology to it. The tech giant recently patented a way to use the Touch ID as type of a track pad. This feature would be able to identify the direction of your fingerprint movement and provide two user interfaces based on the movement of the swipe.

There is a 50% chance of Apple getting rid of its home button, if Munster’s speculations are to be taken into account.. Do you think Apple will actually do away with one of the most characteristic feature of its iPhone? Let us know in the comments below.

October 21, 2015