Tag: Australia

Contact Lenses Could Work as Displays and Fitness Trackers in the Future

Forget VR headsets that simulate concussions or augmented reality that alters the world around you. Here’s a concept of lenses from the future that could work as electronic displays, along with tracking the vital stats of the body. A team of researchers at University of South Australia have come up with a concept of a conductive polymer film coating that is capable of achieving this with future contact lenses.

If the concept is realised into reality, it would be an immensely huge leap for virtual reality. As users do away with cumbersome VR headsets, this piece of futuristic technology would change lifestyles in an unprecedented way.

The idea behind the research is to use water-compatible conductors on contact lenses which would render them capable of measuring glucose levels or creating electronic displays.

Is it time for good-bye already?

Professor Drew Evans describes comments on their research and says, “The trick is to provide power to the contact lens display. We are excited by advances from other researchers showing you can use tear drops to power special batteries. There is a possibility to modify this for use with our conductive coatings.” He further added that the inspiration behind the research came from wearables and their increasing presence in the contemporary world.

Many people who require contact lenses for eye-sight correction, shy away from opting for them because the idea of making the eye under-go any kind of external physical contact is not a welcomed one. But if the future truly offers us electronic displays that could be attached to the eye-ball would you say yay or nay? Let us know in the comments below.

Source

February 10, 2016
Bionic Limbs Would Now Move With the Power of Thought

According to a report published on Tuesday at University of Melbourne, researchers in Australia may have developed a device, not bigger than a matchstick, that could help victims of spinal injury immensely. The device would make use of thoughts to help control bionic limbs or exoskeleton, and therefore employ neuro-motor rehabilitation.

The stent-electrode recording array or stentrode would be made part of blood-vessels inside the brain. Using this stentrode, thoughts would be converted into electrical commands that could be used in moving the bionic limbs, which are otherwise controlled manually with a joystick.

The research is the result of a collaboration between the Royal Melbourne Hospital, the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, and the University of Melbourne. The team put the current device through numerous design changes before a final design was finalised suitable to be positioned inside a blood-vessel measuring no more than one millimeter.

Paralysis is not the only physical condition this stentrode could be used in. Epilepsy and predictions of epileptic attacks in patients could also be treated using it. A foreseeable hindrance in the application of this tech would be tutoring the patients in using it.

“With our device, you’ve essentially connected an electronic limb to the patient’s brain, but they have to learn how to use it,” says Thomas Oxley, a neurologist at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. The stentrode should be available for use by 2022 and is expected to cost close to $10,500 to $14,000.

Source

February 9, 2016
Australia to Have 5G Network by 2020, Says Vodafone

We all know that 5G is the next big thing. We are also aware that the speeds 5G promises will be massive. While many countries still try to have an established 4G network, including India, Australia is one country which wants to stay ahead of the pack. According to Vodafone, Australia will likely have 5G mobile network by 2020.

The development of the fifth-generation mobile network has invited a number of eager investors. After all, the next-gen network promises supremely fast speeds and will be the guiding factor for everything from ‘Internet of Things’ to driverless cars.

Vodafone’s Australian chief Benoit Hanssen believes Australia will be among the first countries to have 5G network by 2020. “Australia adopted the smartphone enthusiastically — smartphone penetration is one of the highest in the world,” he said. “There is a readiness to adopt new things, and you have a population that can largely afford to adopt new things. We do think that as 5G comes out, Australia will be there.”

Indeed, Australia has embraced 4G greatly with almost 70% of Vodafone customers on 4G phones. Hanssen expects the figure to cross 90% this year. 5G is all set to break speed records if the tests have anything to show for it. In 2015, British scientists claimed they broke speed records during tests of 5G data connections, reaching one terabit per second. According to the BBC, with such a speed, it “would be theoretically possible to download a file 100 times the size of a feature film in about three seconds.”

Spectrums have and continue to be the main reason behind the delay of not only 5G but 4G as well. In fact, many countries still face a lack of 3G connectivity. The release of spectrum is being negotiated globally. We wonder how long it takes before we can even begin talking about 5G in India, which is still being introduced to 4G network slowly.

January 20, 2016
Let Your Smartphone Help Cure Cancer as You Sleep: DreamLab

Set your smartphone to work as you sleep. Let it help cure cancer. DreamLab, which is a three year old collaboration between Vodafone Foundation and Australia’s Garvan Institute of Medical Research, has started an initiative that attempts to use smartphones to get some help in curing cancer.

You need to begin by downloading the free app from Google Playstore and ensure that the phone is being charged. Next, choose the type of cancer research you want to support -ovarian, pancreatic, prostrate or breast, and then simply choose the amount of internet data you’d like to donate.

This initiative has been made live only in Australia as of now. If the nation there puts their smartphones together, it will provide Garvan with a supercomputer to be able to conduct cancer research more skillfully. Garvans’s head of the breast cancer unit, Dr. Samantha Oakes, said in an official statement:

“As a nation who loves their smartphones, we now have a tremendous opportunity to put them to good use and help find a cure for cancer. Together, we can come to a greater understanding of how to treat it more swiftly. With the help of game-changing innovations like DreamLab, I am hopeful that we will see cures of certain types of cancer in our lifetime.”

The Institute further stated that with 100,000 DreamLab apps working on smartphones in a nation which has about 5 million users, the rate of processing data would increase by 150,000 times and with a speed 3,000 times faster than the current one. The initiative seems a big step in the field of cancer research. Let’s see how long India would have to wait before something like this makes its way to the country.

November 9, 2015
Drones and 3D Printers Soon to be Used For Delivering Post in Australia

Postal services in Australia are all set to get more tech-savvy with the help of 3D printers and drones. While Third World countries like India still struggle with basic technology, Australia is all set to incorporate sci-fi Hollywood-like gadgets in their postal system.

The CEO of Australia Post, Ahmed Fahour, said the service is discussing its plans with online retailers to make drones available in regional communities. As part of the same plans, 3D printers will also be installed in Post offices. Fahour commented,

“Some things you want, like household items, could be printed right there and then rather than waiting for it. This is the new world, the technological revolution as opposed to the industrial revolution.”

A fund of 14 million USD has been to set up to provide finances for these plans. They would be provided by the Melbourne Accelerator Programme of University of Melbourne, an initiative for entrepreneurs.

Drones have earlier been seen in Prime Air program of Amazon. The ones to be introduced in Australia will be similar to those and will be able to carry packages weighing up to 2 kilograms. GPS and back-up motors will be some of the technology they’ll come equipped with, to be able to deliver the package on the right address.

November 2, 2015
In Australia, a Robot Waited in Line to Buy the New iPhone 6s

The possession of an iPhone right after its release is not an easy task, you’ll have to wait in long lines outside stores for days until you receive it. Seems like a horribly inconvenient thing to do, especially when your life really doesn’t come to a standstill just because the new iPhone has come to town. But a lady is Australia has found the perfect solution to get her iPhone while standing in the long line and at the same time go to work.

The idea is something like Sheldon Cooper’s TV Robot, in the episode where he was ill and hence created a virtual robot with a TV Screen attached to a Segway-type device, which could go to work while he was lying in bed sick at home.

Lucy Kelly a resident of Sydney, Australia has used a telepresence robot to stand in line instead of her. It is basically an iPad attached to a sleek segway looking device. This robot reportedly arrived at the Apple store at 5:00am and is fourth in line to receive the new iPhone 6s. Further reports also suggest that Kelly’s company often uses this device to attend meetings half way around the world.

“We use them for everything, just to show new technology. It is a cool demonstration of what the future of technology will be,” said Kelly

This device works through an app that allows people to connect from anywhere and communicate via an iPad. The device is in line forthe iPhone 6s and 6s Plus which is arriving first in Australia. The question now arises about an overnight stay. Where is the robot going to find shelter? Well Kelly has taken care of it. The robot, who is named Lucy will stay in a special tent that comes with a charger and keeps it dry in case it begins to rain. Once the momentous time arrives, the robot will be able to buy the iPhone 6s without human interaction.

Good luck to Lucy. Maybe gen-next is getting smarter because as long as you are get inspired by Sheldon Cooper, you should be just fine.

Source : [tw-button size=”small” background=”#07ABE2″ color=”” target=”_blank” link=”In Australia, a Robot Named Lucy Waited in Line to Buy the New iPhone 6s http://1gn.in/1NQ3iir”]Mashable[/tw-button]

September 25, 2015
Facial Recognition: The New ‘National Security Weapon’ of Other Countries

Government agencies in Australia now have facial recognition technology at their disposal to look up people of interest. They would have a database of individuals taken from photographs on visas, passports and driving licenses.

This technology allows identification of individuals using a digital image of sorts of their face. It uses unique features of the face in the image — shape of the eyes, nose or jaw etc. — to compare the digital image with the one stored in the database.

A sum of $18.5 million to be spent on establishing the National Facial Biometric Matching Capability (NFBMC) was announced by the Australian Minister for Justice, Michael Keenan on Wednesday. He referred to the development as the country’s “newest national security weapon.” Agencies and police would be able to “share and match” photographs of Australians held in existing databases next year onwards.

Speculations regarding similar technology are rife in India, but the country is yet to see any concrete developments in the field. One of the biggest hindrances India would face while establishing such a database would be its humongous population. Meanwhile, Australia’s public announcement has sparked off numerous debates about the nature of this technology -a tool to control crime and maintain security, or another example of the State’s growing control and influence over people?

Do you think its time India got its own ‘National Security Weapon’ of this sort? Let us know in the comments below.

Image Source: [tw-button size=”medium” background=”#07ABE2″ color=”” target=”_blank” link=”http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/super-spy-camera-surveillance-network-to-fight-crime/story-e6frep2f-1226081971440″]Courier Mail[/tw-button]

September 11, 2015
Australia Detects Two Objects Measuring 79 Feet, Could be Parts of MH370

Several days and searches later, when many countries came up negative in their search for the MH370(The Malaysian Airlines flight which went missing about 10 days ago) it seems that we may finally have a positive lead to locating the missing aircraft.

No information, or debris from Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 has been found ever since it disappeared on March 8. This has been one of the largest search efforts in the aviation history , but at the same time, what concerns everyone is what happened to those 239 people in the plane.

Australia had sent aircrafts and a navy ship to a particular area in the southern Indian Ocean to determine whether two large floating objects spotted by a satellite are pieces of wreckage from the Malaysian jet MH370.

Satellite imagery analyzed by experts shows two objects of big sizes around the southern Indian Ocean, said John Young, general manager of Australia’s Maritime Safety Authority. This was spotted about 2,500 kilometres southwest of Perth.

Here’s the statement that Abbott gave to Parliament:

I would like to inform the House that new and credible information has come to light in relation to the search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 in the southern Indian Ocean. The Australia Maritime Safety Authority has receive information based on satellite imagery of objects possibly related to the search.

Following specialist analysis of this imagery two possible objects of the search have been identified. I can inform the House that a Royal Australian Air Force Orion has been diverted to attempt to locate the objects. This Orion is expected to arrive in the area at about this time. Three more aircraft will follow this Orion for more intensive followup search.

I’ve spoken to my Malaysian counterpart, Prime Minister Najib Razak and informed him of these developments. I should tell the House and we must keep this in mind, the task of locating these objects will be extremely difficult and it may turn out that they are not related to the search for flight MH370, but I did want to inform the house of this potentially important development.

It is not clear if this information is true or not, but it is important to follow up leads as the aircraft is missing since two weeks and was carrying 239 passengers.

March 20, 2014
Saints Row IV Banned In Australia

Saints Row IV has been refused classification by the Australian Classification Board.

This makes Saints Row IV the first game to be refused classification under new guidelines that introduced an R18+ classification for videogames in Australia.

In a statement released this morning, the ACB said it classified the game “RC (Refused Classification)” in accordance with the new guidelines. Publisher Deep Silver told Joystiq developer Volition is reworking the game’s content for the territory.

“In the Board’s opinion, Saints Row IV, includes interactive, visual depictions of implied sexual violence which are not justified by context,” reads the ACB’s statement. “In addition, the game includes elements of illicit or proscribed drug use related to incentives or rewards. Such depictions are prohibited by the computer games guidelines.”

Games that are rated Refused Classification are banned for sale, hire or public exhibition in Australia, and are illegal to possess in Western Australia and some parts of the Northern Territory.

Publisher Deep Silver has released the following statement:

“Deep Silver can confirm that Saints Row IV was denied an age classification in Australia. Volition, the developer, are reworking some of the code to create a version of the game for this territory by removing the content which could cause offence without reducing the outlandish gameplay that Saints Row fans know and love. Saints Row IV has been awarded PEGI 18 and ESRB M ratings where fans can enjoy their time in Steelport as originally intended.”

The new guidelines began on January 1 this year, and introduced a new adult level for video games, R18+, which restricts sale to anyone under the age of 18.

In the six months since the new rating was introduced, the ACB has applied it to 17 video games, including God of War: Ascension and Army of Two: The Devil’s Cartel.

Earlier this month, the publisher announced a Saints Row 4 Collector’s Edition ahead of the Saints Row 4 release date of August 20 in North America and August 23 in Europe.

Saints Row 4 is slated to hit the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC.

[Via, Via]

June 25, 2013
Volvo joins V8 Supercars series in 2014 down under [w/video]

Volvo fans, we have good news for you. It had been a rumour for a while, and now it’s official. Volvo will be joining the V8 Supercars series in Australia with an official team in 2014. Volvo’s own polestar tuning firm and Garry Rogers Motorsport have joined hands to help Volvo create Volvo Polestar Racing.

The Swedish half of the outfit will produce a V8 engine, and will supply it to the Garry Rogers team, for them to get the car ready for the track. Two V8 Supercars will be used by the team, based on the production S60 road car. But considering that the S60 uses a range of transversely mounted engines with four, five or six cylinders (powering either the front or all four wheels) while the new race car will employ a V8 sending about 650 horsepower to the rear wheels, we guess the similarities between the production variant and the V8 Supercar stop at the exterior design.

Volvo claims this is the first factory-backed entry in the V8 Supercars series from a luxury brand. We should note, though, that Mercedes-Benz is represented in the series with an E-Class sedan, but that outfit isn’t quite an official entry from the car’s German parents. With the going away of the Ford Falcon, the addition of the Nissan Altima and now this Volvo S60, V8 Supercars is surely getting very interesting. Watch the teaser video below, to get an idea of what Volvo has in mind.

[youtube id=”PNvH9n90XtQ” width=”100%” height=”300px”]

[Source: Volvo, Polestar Racing via YouTube]

June 18, 2013
Australia Orders Apple, Microsoft, Adobe To Pricing Inquiry

Apple Inc has been ordered to appear before Australia’s parliament with fellow technology giants Microsoft Inc and Adobe Systems Inc to explain why local consumers pay so much for their products, despite the strong Aussie dollar.

The House of Representatives launched a probe in July last year to see if some goods were more expensive in Australia than in other parts of the world.

Consumer bodies have often complained that Australians are overcharged.

The firms have previously made written submissions to the committee but have so far declined to appear in person. They are now scheduled to appear before the committee on 22 March.

Ed Husic, a member of the Australian House of Representatives, says that some estimates suggest Australian prices on some products are up to 60 percent higher than in the U.S. Husic told Kotaku Australia that “in what’s probably the first time anywhere in the world, these IT firms are now being summonsed by the Australian Parliament to explain why they price their products so much higher in Australia compared to in the U.S. Adobe, Apple and Microsoft are just a few firms that have continually defied the public’s call for answers and refused to appear before the IT Pricing Inquiry.

Husic took aim at Apple last week over local taxes paid by the company, telling parliament that Apple generated A$6 billion in revenue in Australia in 2011, but paid only A$40 million in tax – less than one percent of turnover.

Good move!

February 11, 2013
Apple’s Appeal to suspend the temporary injunction lift for Galaxy Tab rejected in Australia

First Apple managed to get an injunction against the sale of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia, The Korean company managed to get the courts to temporarily lift the injunction . Apple then appealed this lift of injunction, But it seems that this appeal was denied by the Aussie Court, as is being reported by The Register. Samsung will be now allowed to sell its Galaxy tab 10.1 throughout the holiday season, gathering up enough sales to recover initial costs of ad investments.

Samsung says the device will on on the shelf on Monday, December 12, with list prices of $579 for the 16 GB WiFi Galaxy 10.1 Tab, and $729 for the 3G version in Australia.

[The Register]

December 9, 2011
Microsoft Lync the first to link WP7 – Blackberry – Android – iDevices

Microsoft Lync is ready to hit your portable devices in a fast and swift motion. MS Australia tweeted that they are working on a synergised app for all Smartphone OS’s software becomes available for Android, BlackBerry, iOS and Windows Phone.

[Microsoft Australia (Twitter)]

November 26, 2011
Samsung requests Source Code to ban iPhone 4S sales in Australia

Samsung and Apple wars rage on as this time around the South Korean Giant is looking to get revenge in Aussie-Land. Samsung has requested the source code for iOS 5 firmware including Siri, and has also asked for details on Apple’s subsidy agreements with Australian carriers Vodafone, Optus and Telstra. This is a part of the ongoing Apple Vs Samsung Lawsuit that caused a denial of sales of the Galaxy Tab in Australia. Apple believes Samsung has no need to access the information, but the lawyers from Samsung argued that there are fewer subsidies available for Samsung’s products if subsidies are given for the iPhone 4S, and hence the information was critically important. The South Korean also said that the source code is important to ensure that Apple ins not infringing on patents.

“Based on the accompanying firmware, [an expert] can tell how the chips are working in the phones, To form a final view on whether patent 621 is infringed, [an expert] needs to see the documents that set out the source code for that firmware.”

-Samsung counsel Cynthia Cochrane

Apple had sued Samsung earlier this year in several parts of the world claiming that Samsung had produces copycat devices that infringed a multiple of Apple device design and software patents. Due to which Apple was successful in lowering and banning sales of various Samsung devices in countries like Netharlands, Germany and Australia.

November 2, 2011
Samsung Plays dirty games to stop iPhone 4S in Aussie Land – Sells Galaxy S2 for $2

Have a Hundred rupees ? You can now get a Samsung Galaxy S2 for 2 Dollars (Australian) if you are in Sydney. The line apparently stretches beyond the one at the Apple Store, the first 10 people in line at the store get the device at $2.

Customers queuing outside of Apple’s George Street store in Sydney waiting for Friday’s iPhone 4S launch have reportedly been approached by Samsung representatives, encouraging them to switch queues and stand in line at the Samsung store instead.

Unfortunately for Samsung, it doesn’t seem to be working on most, with student Tom Mosca noting:

There’s this guy who has come up to us trying to convince us to buy the Samsung Galaxy S II two days in a row now. He’s an idiot.

Oh the dirty Tricks Samsung!

October 12, 2011