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  • Microsoft Outs its Fitness Wearable with 10 Sensors Onboard

    Microsoft Outs its Fitness Wearable with 10 Sensors Onboard

    Microsoft has just listed its new fitness offering on its official website. ‘Microsoft Band’ will go on sale today for $199 at the company’s online and physical stores, for US customers only, and in ‘limited quantities’.

    Microsoft Band is a 10-sensor fitness tracker which would last two days on a charge, according to the company. In addition to the obvious optical heart rate monitor, which is evident on the design itself, the new Microsoft’s wearable includes a UV sensor to keep track of your sun exposure, a galvanic skin response sensor to measure stress, and a built-in GPS.

    Designed by Quentin Morris (who also developed the Xbox One controller), it comes with 18.5 mm band, which is made up of thermoplastic elastomer making it soft and quite stretchy. It has got a 1.4-inch touchscreen display with 320×106 resolution and is powered by two 100mAh lithium-ion batteries.

    band

    The new fitness band is a part of Microsoft’s Health initiative to track and analyze world’s health data and is also just one way to collect it. It is to be noted that the company has opened it up for use on devices and platforms built by others. Microsoft plans to let people use the Health app with other personal trackers.

    Also, not only is the device cross-platform ready, it is said that Microsoft will look for other companies (maybe Samsung, HTC, Pebble, Fitbit) to make their devices Microsoft Health compatible. That way, they can sync into the data and notifications immediately, all powered by the Microsoft backend.

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    One of the main highlights of this device is that it comes with a microphone to issue voice commands to Cortana. However, it will only work if you pair the band to a Windows Phone device. In addition to that, the Microsoft Band will be able to perform usual task of Smartwatches such as e-mail messages, calendar reminders, phone calls, Twitter and Facebook notifications, weather and stock information.

    Microsoft has already partnered with major health-related service providers such as  Jawbone, MapMyFitness, MyFitnessPal and RunKeeper. Another feature that the company has added is its ability to share data from the HealthVault with your medical provider. Microsoft is aiming for folks active both at work and in the gym and according to them, they have come up with a perfect system for such consumers.

  • Xiaomi Now Holds the ‘World’s Third-Largest Smartphone Maker’ Tag

    Xiaomi Now Holds the ‘World’s Third-Largest Smartphone Maker’ Tag

    Despite being in controversies regarding privacy concerns, Xiaomi, the Chinese handset maker, has become the world’s third-biggest smartphone maker. According to the recent report by International Data Corporation (IDC), the smartphone maker has tripled the shipments since last year.

    Also, it’s the first time Xiaomi has made it to the list of top 5 smartphone makers in the world, released by IDC. The company is trailing behind Samsung, who despite witnessing a steep fall in shipment from last year, still leads the race followed by Apple in the second position.

    It is to be noted that Xiaomi’s focus on China and the neighbouring markets like Southeast Asia helped boost Xiaomi into the top 5 by resulting in triple-digit year-over-year growth in the third quarter of 2014. According to IDC,  the launch of Xiaomi’s flagship phone MI4, which is meant to compete against Samsung’s Galaxy S5 and Apple’s iPhone in August, was the key to its success.

    Xiaomi Redmi 1s Unboxing 16

    Although, the company has made a mark in China and its adjacent markets, it is still unclear how well it will fare in other markets where it faces greater competition from already established smartphone giants – Samsung and Apple. The report illustrates that while Samsung (24.7 percent) and Apple (12.3 percent) still dominate, LG’s recent popularity and increasing sale has also moved it to fourth.

    “Despite rumors of a slowing market, smartphone shipments continue to see record-setting volumes. We’ve finally reached a point where the most developed markets are experiencing single-digit growth while emerging markets are still growing at more than 30 percent collectively,” said Ryan Reith, Program Director with IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker.

    While Samsung remained the world’s leading smartphone maker, IDC said it was the only company in the top 5 to see shipment volume decline year-over-year. Meanwhile, Apple’s latest iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus pushed Apple to its largest third-quarter shipment ever.

    The report reveals that Apple has sold close to 10 million units during their first launch weekend of the new smartphones and also continued to sell previous generation iPhone 5s and 5c in large numbers, which made up the bulk of Apple’s volume for the quarter.

  • New Oppo R5 Now Leads the ‘World’s Thinnest Smartphone’ Race

    New Oppo R5 Now Leads the ‘World’s Thinnest Smartphone’ Race

    Oppo has just launched the much-awaited R5, which has broken the fellow Chinese manufacturer Gionee’s record for the world’s slimmest smartphone. The Oppo R5 measures just 4.85 mm thick; the company has shaved quite a bit compared to the 6.3 mm Oppo R3.

    The hand-polished frame is made up of 3D-welded aluminum alloy. The other measurements are 148.9×74.5 mm (that’s rather tall for a 5.2-inch device) and it weighs a mere 155g. Previous generation R series handsets are known for their slim and sleek design, but the new R5 has upped the expectation from the company even further.

    The new R5 pack a 5.2-inch AMOLED screen of 1080p resolution (423ppi), which the company said is one of the best displays available in the market with best brightness, lowest reflectivity and highly accurate colors. The R5 will launch with Android 4.4-based ColorOS 2.0. It’s powered by Snapdragon 615, Qualcomm’s mid-range octa-core chipset. It features an octa-core Cortex-A53 processor clocked at 1.5 GHz, which is paired with an Adreno 405 GPU and 2 GB RAM.

    It fashions a 13MP Sony IMX214 sensor and a f/2.0 aperture, while the front camera is a 5MP shooter. Also with that, the company has added a special cooling element made from liquid-metal and phase-change materials to balance the heat created by the chipset.

    Surprisingly, despite being so thin, Oppo R5 managed to juice it up with a 2,000mAh Li-Polymer battery along with the VOOC mini rapid charge tech support. The company said that the smartphone will make its way to the global market in December and will be available to the customers at a price of $499 in silver, gold and grey colours.

  • Oppo Brings Out the N3 with 16MP Rotating Camera

    Oppo Brings Out the N3 with 16MP Rotating Camera

    As expected, Oppo has launched two new smartphones today at a press event in Singapore, the N3 and R5. N3 has been touted as the most interesting ‘camera phone’ ever with a motorised swivel camera that can track objects as they move, and can rotate up to 206 degrees.

    The successor to the N1 fashions a 16MP motorized camera letting users track objects as they move. The sensor used by the camera is 1/2.3-inch in size and the pixel size is 1.34micrometer. The camera uses Schneider Kreuznach-approved lens that sums it up to an impressive level of quality.

    oppo_n3_landscape

    The mechanized camera is super useful to shoot panoramas and taking selfies for example. Panoramas are shot in up to 64MP resolution. The fingerprint sensor at the back also allows you to protect your images immediately after taking them with a single swipe.

    Some of the other camera functions that come under the Oppo N3’s ‘Ultra image 2.0’ suite include slow shutter, ultra macro mode, after focus, and shooting in RAW. The N3’s 16MP shoots 4K video at 30 fps, 1080p video at 60 fps, 720p slow motion video at 120 fps.

    Specs-wise, the new N3 is no less compared with other flagship phones available in market. In terms of connectivity, the phone offers Wi-Fi 802.11ac, NFC and Bluetooth 4.0. USB OTG is also supported. It comes with  a 2.3GHz Snapdragon 801 quad-core SoC, 2GB of RAM, 32GB of internal storage, a nice 5.5-inch full HD LCD (the N1 had a 5.9-inch one), NFC and a 3,000 mAh fixed battery.

    The N3 also comes with VOOC rapid charging with a smaller charger, which means you can go from zero to 75 per cent in just half an hour. The handset is now listed on the company’s China website with a price tag of CNY 3,999 (roughly Rs. 40,100). The company said that the handset’s dual-SIM variant will also arrive later.

  • Company Confirms India-Specific OnePlus Invite System to Arrive Soon

    Company Confirms India-Specific OnePlus Invite System to Arrive Soon

    OnePlus has already confirmed that it will launch its flagship handset OnePlus One soon in India. Now, the company has confirmed that it will release India-specific invites to prospective ‘One’ consumers online.

    OnePlus One, which has been called a ‘Flagship killer’, will continue to sell on an invite-based approach, just like it has done everywhere else. The premium looking device packs in some high-end hardware specifications while maintaining a relatively cheaper price tag. But the phone has been criticized for one reason; its scarce availability.

    The company director (Global), Carl Pei, in his latest blog post, besides wishing Indians’ a belated Happy Diwali, announced the cheerful news of releasing India-specific OnePlus One invites to the fans.

    “We’ve made tremendous progress in just the last week and are grateful to all of our partners who took time during their holiday to help us move this forward. We’ll be ready to share some very exciting updates with you in the coming weeks. But for now, we wanted to talk a little about how you’ll be able to get the One in India.” Pei added.

    oneplus-one-igyaan-3

    The company said that like other countries, Indian users will be able to purchase the One with an India-specific invite. According to Carl Pei, invites have been immensely helpful for the company so far and they allow them to control their inventory, scale their team and support services to grow along with the demand and create an overall better experience for the users. “As this is our first experience with the Indian market, we didn’t want to be too ambitious. We are more concerned with offering outstanding service and experiences to users than getting the One in as many hands as possible. It will take us some time to learn, and the invites are a great way for us to do that.” Carl further stated.

    Besides introducing invitation-only registration process, the company is also in talks with some e-commerce websites to offer OnePlus One in India. If all things fall in place, the flagship phone is expected to set a mark in the Indian market by December end for around Rs. 25,000.

  • Motorola’s Newest Smartphone Comes with 3900mAh Battery and 21 MP Main Camera

    Motorola’s Newest Smartphone Comes with 3900mAh Battery and 21 MP Main Camera

    Motorola has officially launched the Droid Turbo, a Verizon-exclusive smartphone manufactured by Motorola, and it appears to be their most powerful yet. Verizon and Motorola have always shared close relationship, at a time where AT&T was the exclusive US carrier for the iPhone.

    The Droid Turbo’s biggest catch is its battery life, though moreover, it’s a fact that it has much more powerful specs than any of Motorola’s available flagship. The Droid Turbo has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 with four Krait 450 cores clocked at 2.7 GHz and 3 GB of LPDDR3 memory. It sports a 2560×1440 AMOLED display, which we see quite often these days on Android flagship smartphones. The device comes with a 2MP front-facing camera capable of recording 1080p video along with three capacitive navigation buttons, which means we won’t see any on-screen buttons that Motorola has been using on their devices.

    Key Specs

     Droid Turbo

    Display 5.2-inch 2560×1440 AMOLED at 565ppi
    Processor APQ8084 2.7 GHz Snapdragon 805 with 4xKrait 450 + Adreno 420
    Storage 32/64 GB
    RAM 3 GB LPDDR3
    Camera 21 MP (5248×3936) Rear Camera with F/2.0 aperture, 2 MP Front Camera
    Battery 3900 mAh
    Operating System Android 4.4.4 KitKat

    As already mentioned, the most striking aspect of the phone is its 3900 mAh capacity battery and it claims to last up to 48 hours of usage. The Droid Turbo will also support Motorola’s Turbo Charger, a new accessory from Motorola that is said to provide 8 hours of battery life in a mere 15 minutes of charging. It will have support for 4G LTE with LTE Cat 4, apart from CDMA, EVDO Rev A, GSM/ UMTS/ HSPA+. Meanwhile, the back of the phone houses the 21 MP primary camera, which Motorola claims is capable of recording 4k videos at 24fps, along with support for 1080p recording at 30fps. The back of the phone is quite similar to what we have seen in the Moto X and Moto G, but slightly less curvy. There’s also a lot of branding on the back with a logo for Verizon, the Droid brand, and of course, Motorola. Even with those, it still emanates Motorola’s design language.

    The Droid Turbo will have two choices of materials. One is a metallic finish which comes in black or red and is lighter and slimmer of the two. They will all have 32 GB capacity. Meanwhile, the 64 GB version will only get the Nylon Ballistic Black finish, which is slightly thicker and heavier.

    The Droid Turbo has been priced at $199.99 (approximately Rs. 12,250) for the 32 GB variant, while the 64 GB version costs $249 (approximately Rs. 15,300), both on a two-year term.

    To us, it’s yet another Droid that India won’t get its hands on.

  • OnePlus is Developing a New Android ROM for the OnePlus Two

    OnePlus is Developing a New Android ROM for the OnePlus Two

    Chinese mobile superstar, OnePlus is reportedly creating a new Android ROM for the upcoming OnePlus Two. The CEO of the company told the Chinese media that the company is planning to ship one variant of the Two with a home grown ROM.

    OnePlus One is known and demanded world over for its high specs, awesome design and low price. The device is especially appreciated for running the Android based CyanogenMod, that keeps the devices updated. Apart from this, the device ships with Color OS in China. Color OS can be found on the devices from OnePlus’s sister enterprise, Oppo. It seems that OnePlus might bid farewell to the Color OS for its own operating system.

    The OnePlus One currently runs CyanogenMod and it is unanimously appreciated for it.
    The OnePlus One currently runs CyanogenMod and it is unanimously appreciated for it.

    In the past, the company has taken multiple steps to reduce its dependency on CyanogenMod. They had released a stock Android ROM for their devices. Apart from that they had also offered support for other ROM’s like Paranoid Android and SlimKat ROM.

    It is highly unlikely though that the company may dump CyanogenMod altogether after a regularly updated ROM is one of the centerpieces of the device. But it will be interesting to see if a homegrown ROM will match up to the amazing CyanogenMod.

    OnePlus has also just announced that they will be bringing the One to India with a geography limited invite system. Considering the massive demand for the device, we will assume that they will repeat the millisecond vanishing act that has been perfected by its compatriot, Xiaomi. As for the OnePlus Two, it would be arriving somewhere around the second or third quarter of next year. We are waiting for your arrival OnePlus.

  • Spectrum Delay to Disrupt Telephony Services in Three Megacities

    Spectrum Delay to Disrupt Telephony Services in Three Megacities

    If you are living in Delhi, Mumbai or Kolkata and are a subscriber of either of the two largest mobile service providers, Vodafone and Airtel, there might be trouble brewing ahead for you. Mobile telephony may get disrupted the coming month in these cities because of the delay in spectrum allocation.

    In February this year, the spectrum allocation bid took place. All major service providers got their share. But the government allotted the airwaves just this month. This might cause a lot of trouble especially for the subscribers of Vodafone and Airtel, whose spectrum expires in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata by the end of next month. The companies have to vacate the 900 MHz spectrum and shift to 1800 MHz.

    The delay in Spectrum allocation can result in disruption of Vodafone, Airtel and Idea services
    The delay in Spectrum allocation can result in disruption of Vodafone, Airtel and Idea services

    As the Department of Telecom (DoT) allocated the spectrum to the companies this month, they are asking for a six-month extension. This request was made by GSM industry body Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI). According to them, shifting of frequencies and bands require at least six months to make a smooth transition. They said that a lot of groundwork needs to be carried out, which includes new tower locations, antenna tuning, network configuration, etc. And hence, they require a minimum extension of six-month for a seamless transfer.

    The decision will affect a giant section of mobile users in those cities. It is estimated that combined user share of Vodafone, Airtel and Idea in Delhi accounts for 26 million, which is almost 79% of the GSM mobile users. In Mumbai, the trio provides GSM services to 72% of mobile users.

    DoT, however, hasn’t given any assurance to the companies. The representatives of the industry will be meeting with the officials at the DoT on Friday. The result of the meet will decide the fate of millions of mobile connections. If talks fail, it will not just create a connectivity issue but will create an economical issue as well, considering that a good number of businessmen are now dependent on their phones for their livelihood. We’ll get to know how things work out for everyone this Friday.

  • Facebook-Owned WhatsApp Lost Close to $200 Million in 2 Years

    Facebook-Owned WhatsApp Lost Close to $200 Million in 2 Years

    As a result of the official closing of Facebook’s acquisition of cross-platform instant messaging application WhatsApp, the first clear picture of WhatsApp’s financial results emerged. A Form 8-K/A filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission has revealed that in 2014, WhatsApp lost $140 million and generated just $10 million in revenue. And in 2012 and 2013, the app lost a total of $192.8 million.

    In the six months ending June 30, 2014, WhatsApp brought in $15.921 million in revenue but suffered a net loss of $232.5 million. However, $206.5 million of the net loss was for share-based compensation expenses and issuance of common stock below fair value. Its net cash used in operating expenses during the first half of 2014 was $13.5 million, which sounds much more reasonable.

    “We’re the most atypical Silicon Valley company you’ll come across,” Brian Acton, a WhatsApp co-founder, once said in an interview. “We were founded by thirty-somethings, we focused on business sustainability and revenue rather than getting big fast, we’ve been incognito almost all the time, we’re mobile first and we’re global first.”

    mark zuckerberg

    Essentially, due to WhatsApp’s quickly rising valuation, it used share-based compensation to attract top talent. Eventually, the $22 billion acquisition by Facebook largely made the ‘expenses’ of issuing that stock moot. This is standard for growing companies hiring new talent, and shouldn’t convey that WhatsApp was burning money irresponsibly. $148 million is a lot to lose for a small company, but the company seems to have been doing it wisely. Fewer than $10 million was burned in 2013 in actual operating expenses.

    Overall, Facebook broke down the money it spent on WhatsApp as $2.026 billion for the user base, $448 million for the brand, $288 million for technology, and $21 million for the rest. That left it to chalk up the $15.314 billion difference as “good will” aka the value “from future growth, from potential monetization opportunities, from strategic advantages provided in the mobile ecosystem from expansion of our mobile messaging offerings.”

  • Award-Winning App from iOS ‘djay’ Finally Comes to Android

    Award-Winning App from iOS ‘djay’ Finally Comes to Android

    Apple always had an upside when it comes to sophisticated apps. iOS has long been the king in terms of music performance and production apps. But now, Algoriddim, the team behind the popular music mixing app djay, has launched it for Android through the Google Play Store and Amazon App Store, making the app its first on Google’s platform.

    The dj-ing software was demoed onstage at the iPad 2 launch and it won Apple’s much craved Apple Design Award in 2011 and Apple’s App of the Year award in over 100 countries. Djay is so well-liked that it’s even being pre-installed on many of the Apple’s demo units in store.

    djay_android_tablet

    Djay 2 gives you a pair of virtual turntables on which you can load any music from your library or through Spotify (premium account required). Just about everything you can do on real turntables, you can do with djay 2. It’s not limited to the capabilities of physical turntables, though. This app has a full suite of audio effects, waveform views, a drum machine, auto-synchronization, and more.

    Spotify music is streamed directly to djay, so you don’t even need the Spotify app installed – simply log in through the music selection pane – and it performs as if the music was stored locally on your device as long as you’re online. You can pick up a seven-day free trial of Spotify Premium to use with djay through the app if you aren’t already a subscriber.

    This is a huge feature especially if you don’t typically sync your music library to your device or have a storage limitation that prevents syncing huge libraries. If you do save music directly on your device, djay for Android includes fast access to your own music library with the native Android user interface for quickly picking the desired music and returning to the turntables.

  • Wi-Fi Comes to Bangalore Railway Station, More Stations to Follow Soon

    With the Railway Budget announced this year, the Indian Railways has made a revelation that it would be introducing Wi-Fi connectivity to its Bangalore City Railway station. The plan will cost taxpayers a sum of Rs. 55 crores. The idea met wide appreciation and was necessary for travellers over the Internet age. India’s Silicon Valley aka Bangalore is going to be the first station to have Wi-Fi connectivity.

    Union Railway Minister D. V. Sadananda Gowda inaugurated the facility for the passengers of the Bangalore Station. This will be a pilot project which will be extended to about a hundred ‘A1’ and ‘A’ category stations over the nation. It will also be introduced in 50 rakes of important trains, like Rajdhani, Shatabdi and Duronto.

    The facility will be available free of cost for the first 30 minutes, after which you can purchase scratch cards for more access. The prices of these scratch cards are nominal; you can get 30 minutes of access for Rs. 25, and Rs. 35 for one hour of access that would be valid for 24 hours. You can also buy access using your credit or debit cards.

    The facility will be provided by RailTel Corporation of Indian Limited (CIL), which is a public sector undertaking under the Ministry of Railways. It provides Telecom and IT solutions to the railways.

  • At 255 Terabits/s, This is One Ultra Fast Optical Fiber

    At 255 Terabits/s, This is One Ultra Fast Optical Fiber

    Internet is now an essential utility in our lives. It has become at par with the telephone, electricity and for some more important than food. It’s a breeding ground for most of the world’s innovation and where people go to cut-copy-paste their assignments. But with the rapid increase in the new population gaining access to the service, the demand for bandwidth has also risen sharply. To meet this demand new technology has to be created, and one such research has brought out an optical cable that transmits data at an unbelievable speed of 255 Terabits per Second (Tbps).

    Researchers at the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) in the Netherlands and the University of Central Florida (CREOL) have published a report in the journal Nature Photonics. The team reports that they were able to transmit data at a whooping 255 Terabits/s over a new type of optical fiber. Previously a team of Dutch scientists had achieved a speed of 43 Tbps. This new fiber is almost six times the speed of the Dutch efforts.

    To achieve this feat, the researchers used a new fibre that passes the information through seven different cores. The light waves that travel through these fiber’s face less photonic nonlinear effects, which limit the amount of information that can be recovered after transmission over the standard fiber. The fibre also makes a single road system into a seven-lane highway and also allows two additional vertical dimensions which significantly increases the transmission speed. It can be seen as a multilayered highway.

    The European Union Horizon 2020 research program is focused on creating Petabits per Second (Pbps or 1000 Tbps) connections. TU/e and CREOL say that their 200 microns thick optical fiber can possibly achieve that high target. That would be one great feat to look forward to. Get ready guys, things are going to get interesting on the internet space, but not if you are getting your internet from an Indian ISP. Literally only Bhrama can fix that issue.

  • Google Challenges Apple’s HealthKit with New Google Fit

    Google Challenges Apple’s HealthKit with New Google Fit

    After overcoming a few hurdles along the way, Apple’s HealthKit is making its way into mainstream slowly. However, Apple is not the only one to tap on potential market of health related applications and hardware. Yesterday, Google released Google Fit, a standalone app and fitness platform designed to compete with Apple’s HealthKit, in the Google Play store.

    The app, which connects to your existing Google account, functions as a central dashboard for tracking fitness and health goals. Like HealthKit, Google Fit taps into the sensors in your smartphone to keep tabs on daily activities like steps and active minutes. Users can also manually add exercise and other activities like biking and walking.

    google-fit

    According to Google, the newly launched app includes your run-of-the-mill activity tracking features, supports third-party integrations and Android wear devices, and enables users to “set goals based on either duration or steps.”

    To help enable third-party app integration, the company also rolled out full versions of its Google Fit APIs for developers. Google released a preview version of its software development kit for Google Fit earlier this year, and announced a series of early partners, including Nike, Runtastic, RunKeeper, who will be among the first developers to make their apps Google Fit-compatible.

    google fit

    Google Fit also has a web-based destination at Google.com/fit which doesn’t appear to be live just yet, and it’s likely we’ll see more features introduced to the app as developers begin to explore and work with the platform.

    Although this fitness app follows Google’s new Material Design guidelines and was announced alongside Android L (now known as Lollipop), Google Fit is available to all users running Android 4.0 and newer. This is also another reminder that Android 5.0 Lollipop’s release is just around the corner, with the first consumer devices sporting the OS coming next week.

  • Asus Confirms Android 5.0 Lollipop Update for Zenfone, Padfone

    Asus Confirms Android 5.0 Lollipop Update for Zenfone, Padfone

    Taiwanese manufacturer Asus has joined the list of manufacturers officially confirming the Lollipop update for its smartphones. The company has officially announced the Android 5.0 update for the Zenfone 4, Zenfone 5 and Zenfone 6 smartphones. Also receiving the update would be the Padfone S and Padfone Infinity (A86) devices. Meanwhile, the LTE version of the Zenfone 5 will also receive the update.

    However, the updates will take a long time to arrive. According to Asus, the update will come to Zenfones in April 2015, which makes it highly possible that Asus is working on the next version of the Zen UI for Android.

    Asus_Zenfone_4_3

    Asus now joins the likes of Motorola, Sony and HTC with this announcement, who have also confirmed the update for a select few devices. Being the Nexus manufacturer, Motorola was the first to confirm the update, followed by Sony announcing the update for the entire Xperia Z series.

    While Samsung also teased the update for the Galaxy Note 4, though it is rumoured to be working on a revamped version of its TouchWiz UI for Android 5.0. For more information, check out our article on a complete list of devices that will get the Android 5.0 Lollipop update.

  • Elon Musk Cautions Against Creating Artificial Intelligence

    Elon Musk Cautions Against Creating Artificial Intelligence

    In the knowledge and information age that we live in now, a great amount of research is targeted towards creating Artificial Intelligence (AI). The goal is to create a computing system which is as sentient as a human being with same levels of intelligence. But a barrage of people have warned against the creation of such a machine. Adding to the list is Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.

    At MIT’s annual AeroAstra Centennial Symposium, Elon Musk said that developing an artificial intelligence maybe akin to summoning the demon. He explained, “You know those stories where there’s the guy with the pentagram, and the holy water, and he’s like – Yeah, he’s sure he can control the demon? Doesn’t work out”.

    He said that there is an immediate need for a regulatory oversight over the efforts of AI development. “I’m increasingly inclined to think there should be some regulatory oversight may be at the national and international level, just to make sure that we don’t do something very foolish.”

    Musk also warned that HAL 900 from 2001 A Space Odyssey is a Puppy dog infront of what humans can create
    Musk also warned that HAL 900 is a Puppy dog in comparison to what humans can create

    He went ahead to call it the biggest existential threat to humanity and added that the HAL 9000 from 2001 A Space Odyssey would look like a puppy dog in comparison to what humans can build.

    As a trusted name in the field of scientific research, this warning is concerning for folks who were dreaming of incorporating a JARVIS-like system in their house someday. Movies like Terminator, Matrix and many others have warned us about the consequences of AI taking over human civilization. A system that can get instant access to all of humanity’s knowledge in the first couple of seconds of its existence may indeed revolt against its imperfect human masters and overpower them. This is one cautionary tale that should be taken notice by not just the stakeholders but the entire population. We might inadvertently lose the alpha predator tag  to our own creation and become its prey.

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