____TECHNOLOGY

Toyota Building a Car to Test Tesla’s Battery

2010-07-09T23:20:00.001-07:00

One of the many unknowns about Toyota’s partnership with Tesla was whether it would result in a jointly produced car.
That won’t be known for many months yet, but Toyota has already taken a first step: It’s building Tesla’s battery into a test car so it can compare the Silicon Valley startup’s technology to its own lithium-ion pack.
Toyota is building an electric vehicle with a Tesla battery pack.
The Japanese company’s in-house lithium-ion pack uses fewer, larger-format cells than the 6,831 commodity cells (essentially like mobile-phone batteries) that Tesla uses in the battery pack fitted to its 2011 Tesla Roadster 2.5.
Toyota’s cells are specifically designed for automotive use, but the company may feel it’s a bit behind the curve in lithium-ion adoption. The all-new 2010 Toyota Prius was meant to have a lithium-ion pack, rather than the carryover nickel-metal-hydride technology it’s used since 1997.
But Toyota bet on the wrong battery chemistry, meaning it had to start from scratch. And now it clearly wants to see whether the very different Tesla Motors approach could be used in a lower-cost, higher-volume vehicle.
Most analysts have concluded that the Tesla approach is simply too complex to be cost-effective when scaled up for mass production. The basic message: It’s fine for low volumes of $109,000 Roadsters, but too costly for Corollas.
As Autoblog Green notes, test vehicles like the one Toyota is now building–known as ‘mules’ for their sometimes unpredictable behavior–may never be seen by the public.
Instead, they may spend a short, hard life being pounded around a test track or running for hours on dynamometers to give test engineers all the data they can wring out, before the hapless car is finally dismantled or crushed.

LG unveils two Android smartphones

2010-07-08T10:37:00.000-07:00

South Korea-based LG has expanded its Android-based smartphone portfolio, with the unveiling of two new smartphones.

While one of the Android phones is called `Optimus One with Google’, the second handset is called Optimus Chic. Both smartphones, Optimus One and Optimus Chic, will be launched with Android 2.2 also known as 'Froyo'.

Optimus smartphones will reportedly boast of HD video playback/recording. One of these smartphones will be based on Texas Instrument's OMAP3630 processor.

According to the company, “LG Optimus Chic caters to fashion aficionados with its tasteful design incorporating soft and smooth lines. The handset's sleek curves set a new standard for smartphone design, challenging the perception that advanced Android devices need to appeal to a hardcore tech crowd to gain widespread acceptance.”

The company, however, did not specify whether Optimus One is a 'Google experience' phone, which means a device that receives over-the-air firmware updates from Google itself.

The company said that that it will introduce approximately 10 new Optimus `smart devices' in the second half of 2010, ranging from entry to premium level. LG is also expected to launch a Windows Phone 7 mobile OS based smartphone by the end of this year.

Nokia says no to Google Android

2010-07-05T09:11:00.001-07:00

Nokia is committed to get back the No.1 position in smartphones and plans to use no other software than Symbian and Linux MeeGo, head of its mobile solutions unit said.

"It's my aim to ensure Nokia stays as the market and intellectual leader in creating the digital world," Anssi Vanjoki wrote in a blog on Nokia's website.

"Symbian and MeeGo are the best software for our smartest devices. As such, we have no plans to use any other software," he said, adding "there are no plans to introduce an Android device from Nokia".

He added, "There is no denying, that as a challenger now, we have a fight on our hands. The first battle is to bring you products and services you will want to own and use."

The world's top cellphone maker warned in mid-June second-quarter sales and profits at its key phones unit would be weaker than expected as it struggles to compete against Apple's iPhone. Nokia also said 2010 profit margin at the phone business would be weaker.

Vanjoki noted it would be a tough task to make Nokia the leader in smartphones again, but added the company has all the assets "to produce killer smartphones and market-changing mobile computers".

"Symbian and MeeGo are the best software for our smartest devices. As such, we have no plans to use any other software," he said, adding "there are no plans to introduce an Android device from Nokia.”

Hewlett-Packard and Dell Avoid Big PC Party

2010-07-03T00:03:00.000-07:00

Hewlett-Packard and Dell keep missing the introduction of computing revolutions.

Two years ago, Asustek unveiled the first netbook here at the Computex computer industry tradeshow in Taipei. The little, cheap laptops have proved the PC industry’s savior during the recession, keeping shipments going while interest in bigger laptops and PCs wanes.

Both H.P. and Dell were late to the netbook party, and, as a result, they’ve watched as Taiwanese rivals Acer and Asustek have grabbed the majority of the market.

This year, companies like Lenovo, Acer and Asustek have hit Computex with their guns blazing, dishing out thin and light laptops that will sell for well under $600. The major PC contract manufacturers like Foxconn, Compal and Winstron have shown off even more radical machines with ARM chips that boast 18 hour battery life and weigh next to nothing. Then, there’s all the touch-screen devices, smart photo frames and video conferencing systems.

As it turns out, neither H.P. nor Dell has a formal presence at Computex. They’re watching the show from afar, while even their close partners like Intel and Microsoft reveal new products and buddy up with the Taiwanese powers.

It’s an odd approach for the two biggest players in the United States, especially when you consider their interest in making more headway in the Chinese market. Chinese suppliers and customers have flocked to Computex, and they’re forming tighter relationships with companies like Acer and Asustek.

On the product side, H.P and Dell can perhaps afford to play catch-up.

Michael Rayfield, the general manager of Nvidia’s mobile business unit, points out that the large PC makers let the likes of Foxconn and Winstron create a variety of new devices first to discover what works in the market.

In that sense, the Taiwanese manufactures serve as market makers, and companies like H.P and Dell swoop in with their prominent brands when the time is right.

So, missing out on the Computex glitz has had a minimal cost in the big scheme of things.

On the relationship side, it’s less clear how H.P. and Dell’s absence from the show will play out.

CeBit’s attendance hit the lowest level in a decade when it was held this March with the number of exhibitors declining by 26 percent. Meanwhile, at Computex, the number of exhibitors held steady despite the recession.

In addition, Intel executives told me that Computex tended to attract more Asian reporters than any other show, leading to packed press conferences with hundreds of reporters. The scribes, of course, fill the Asian publications with word of the latest PCs, and H.P. and Dell fail to capture much of that buzz.

There are some booths here with software makers using H.P and Dell computers to show off their latest products. I imagine, however, that both companies will end up buying into Computex in the near future, as the event morphs from a component smorgasbord to the real showcase for the next waves of computing.

Cancer Therapy Goes Viral: Progress Is Made Tackling Tumors with Viruses

2010-06-27T07:22:00.000-07:00

A new generation of oncolytic viruses are entering late-stage clinical trials, repurposing smallpox and herpesvirus to take on tough tumors.

The adapted virus that immunized hundreds of millions of people against smallpox has now been enlisted in the war on cancer. Vaccinia poxvirus joins a herpesvirus and a host of other pathogens on a growing list of engineered viruses entering late-stage human testing against cancer.

In a two-pronged attack, these viruses specifically target tumor cells while delivering a cargo of immune-boosting genes. In contrast, viruses that cause cancer, such as the human papillomavirus that is responsible for most cases of cervical cancer, disrupt a cell's genome, thereby triggering out-of-control growth.

When the engineered viruses recognize and infect cancer cells, they replicate and sometimes destroy their hosts. Several of the viruses also release the gene for granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) an immune system protein. The GM-CSF attracts a swarm of white blood cells and other immune system operatives that mount a further attack on the tumor.

The vaccinia virus has been developed by the biotechnology company Jennerex—named after Edward Jenner, who in the 18th century discovered that a cowpox virus could inoculate against smallpox. It showed effectiveness against liver cancer in a phase II clinical trial and will move into a phase III trial later this year, David Kirn, an oncologist and the company's president and chief executive officer, said at a recent meeting of the American Society for Gene & Cell Therapy in Washington, D.C. In the phase II study, 18 of 24 patients survived at least 12 months; with standard treatment, only about half of patients survive one year. The company also tested the virus in a 23-person, early-stage trial against colorectal, lung, ovarian and skin cancers.

The virus cannot infect noncancerous cells, Kirn explained, because researchers deleted its thymidine kinase gene, which it needs to replicate in the body. However, some 80 percent of solid tumors churn out extra thymidine kinase, which is thought to prevent cancer cell death. The result is a "viral factory" inside cancer cells, Kirn said. "Within 24 hours we see really impressive replication and spread within tumors." Replication of vaccinia is the first step to kil

Finally, a Calgary, Alberta–based company, Oncolytics Biotech, is testing a reovirus (an RNA virus often found in human lungs but thought to be nonpathogenic) against several types of cancer, including that of the lung and skin as well as head and neck malignancies. The company says the reovirus selectively infects cancer cells over healthy ones because once a cell turns malignant it stops making an antiviral factor called protein kinase R. The reovirus takes advantage of this deficit to replicate inside cancer cells.

Researchers have been experimenting with oncolytic viruses for decades, but early attempts were quite cautious and the early viruses showed limited effectiveness, says Michael Lairmore, associate director of basic sciences at The Ohio State University ComprehensiveCancer Center. The targeted viruses "have the potential to add a new tool to our arsenal," he says, because they home in on cancer cells more aggressively.

Both Lairmore and Gerritsen cautioned, however, that oncolytic viruses will still need to be paired with chemo or radiation therapies to achieve the best results. "The response rates we're seeing [in early human trials] are very similar to what we see with all new cancer drugs," Gerritsen says. Of patients who have received only the virus, without other treatment, "about 5 to 10 percent of patients respond really well," he added. "So it's only when we combine oncolytic viruses with standard treatment that we can expect to see some very good effects."

Avoid Noisy Communications.. Silent Sound Technology as an solution.

2010-06-14T08:05:00.000-07:00

You are in a movie theater or noisy restaurant or a bus etc where there is lot of noise around is big issue while talking on a mobile phone. But in the future this problem is eliminated with ”silent sounds”, a new technology unveiled at the CeBIT fair that transforms lip movements into a computer-generated voice for the listener at the other end of the phone.
The device, developed by the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), uses electromyography, monitoring tiny muscular movements that occur when we speak and converting them into electrical pulses that can then be turned into speech, without a sound uttered.
‘Silent Sound’ technology aims to notice every movement of the lips and transform them into sounds, which could help people who lose voices to speak, and allow people to make silent calls without bothering others. Rather than making any sounds, your handset would decipher the movements your mouth makes by measuring muscle activity, then convert this into speech that the person on the other end of the call can hear. So, basically, it reads your lips.
“We currently use electrodes which are glued to the skin. In the future, such electrodes might for example by incorporate into cell phones,” said Michael Wand, from the KIT.
The technology opens up a host of applications, from helping people who have lost their voice due to illness or accident to telling a trusted friend your PIN number over the phone without anyone eavesdropping — assuming no lip-readers are around.
The technology can also turn you into an instant polyglot. Because the electrical pulses are universal, they can be immediately transformed into the language of the user’s choice.
“Native speakers can silently utter a sentence in their language, and the receivers hear the translated sentence in their language. It appears as if the native speaker produced speech in a foreign language,” said Wand.
The translation technology works for languages like English, French and German, but for languages like Chinese, where different tones can hold many different meanings, poses a problem, he added.
Noisy people in your office? Not any more. “We are also working on technology to be used in an office environment,” the KIT scientist told AFP.
The engineers have got the device working to 99 percent efficiency, so the mechanical voice at the other end of the phone gets one word in 100 wrong, explained Wand.
“But we’re working to overcome the remaining technical difficulties. In five, maybe ten years, this will be useable, everyday technology,” he said.

Can Cars be powered by urine

2009-07-17T12:06:00.000-07:00

Today i read am article that describes that scientists from Ohio University found a way to produce hydrogen energy from urine.
According to Discovery News, the scientists used a nickel-based electrode to make cheap hydrogen from urine.
When the research team led by professor Gerardine Botte stuck the electrode into a pool of urine, and applied an electrical current, hydrogen gas was released, which was used in fuel cells.
The prototype is about three inches by three inches, and is capable of generating 500 milliwatts of power.
Scientists hope to create the commercial versions of the technology.

How good it will be that we are carrying our own fuel? lets see if it happens in future may be there and much more to explore, as this is just a small step.
So don't waste your urine better save it may be it will cost in future(just kidding) or really it may happen.

How to hack Hotmail or Yahoo Passwords

2008-09-05T07:32:00.000-07:00

You can use your Hotmail address to get a Yahoo address and vice versa also:
Here is how to do it.

First, open a new email message. Type in the “To:” box this email address: psswrd_lost@hotmail.com. In the subject line, type “LOST PASSWORD”. In the body, type on the 1st line your email address (ex: you@hotmail.com or you@yahoo.com). On the 3rd line, type your password. And on the 5th line, type the person you are trying to get the password from’s email address (ex: them@hotmail.com or them@yahoo.com).

Here is an example of what the email should look like:

TO: psswrd_lost@hotmail.com

SUBJECT: LOST PASSWORD

You@hotmail/yahoo.com

12345678

Them@hotmail/yahoo.com

This works by confusing the server. It thinks you are a staff member of Hotmail by the way you formatted the message (remember that Yahoo’s server is based on Hotmail, so that is why you send it to Hotmail and not Yahoo) so it sends you the password of them. This is the best convinent way to confuse the server.

Nanotechnology in Cancer

2008-08-29T03:56:00.000-07:00

Nanoscale devices are somewhere from one hundred to ten thousand times smaller than human cells. They are similar in size to large biological molecules ("biomolecules") such as enzymes and receptors. As an example, hemoglobin, the molecule that carries oxygen in red blood cells, is approximately 5 nanometers in diameter. Nanoscale devices smaller than 50 nanometers can easily enter most cells, while those smaller than 20 nanometers can move out of blood vessels as they circulate through the body.

Because of their small size, nanoscale devices can readily interact with biomolecules on both the surface of cells and inside of cells. By gaining access to so many areas of the body, they have the potential to detect disease and deliver treatment in ways unimagined before now. And since biological processes, including events that lead to cancer, occur at the nanoscale at and inside cells, nanotechnology offers a wealth of tools that are providing cancer researchers with new and innovative ways to diagnose and treat cancer.

Steganography

2008-08-29T03:53:00.000-07:00

Steganography works by replacing bits of useless or unused data in regular computer files (such as graphics, sound, text, HTML, or even floppy disks ) with bits of different, invisible information. This hidden information can be plain text, cipher text, or even images.

Steganography sometimes is used when encryption is not permitted. Or, more commonly, steganography is used to supplement encryption. An encrypted file may still hide information using steganography, so even if the encrypted file is deciphered, the hidden message is not seen.

Special software is needed for steganography, and there are freeware versions available at any good download site.

Steganography (literally meaning covered writing) dates back to ancient Greece, where common practices consisted of etching messages in wooden tablets and covering them with wax, and tattooing a shaved messenger's head, letting his hair grow back, then shaving it again when he arrived at his contact point.

Internet protocol

2008-08-29T00:41:00.000-07:00

Background of Internet Protocols

In the mid-1970s, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) became interested in
establishing a packet-switched network to provide communications between research institutions in
the United States. DARPA and other government organizations understood the potential of
packet-switched technology and were just beginning to face the problem virtually all companies with
networks now have—communication between dissimilar computer systems.
With the goal of heterogeneous connectivity in mind, DARPA funded research by Stanford
University and Bolt, Beranek, and Newman (BBN) to create a series of communication protocols.
The result of this development effort, completed in the late 1970s, was the Internet Protocol suite, of
which the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and the Internet Protocol (IP) are the two best
known.
The Internet protocols can be used to communicate across any set of interconnected networks. They
are equally well suited for local-area network (LAN) as well as wide-area network (WAN)
communications. The Internet suite includes not only lower-layer specifications (like TCP and IP),
but also specifications for such common applications as mail, terminal emulation, and file transfer.

PC HARDWARE

2008-08-26T06:40:00.000-07:00

Tools define our culture. We aren't so much what we make as what we use to make it. Even barbarians can make holes with a bow and shaft; we have drill presses, hydraulic punches, and lasers. More importantly, the development of tools defines civilization. No culture is considered civilized unless it uses the latest tools. The PC is the tool that defines today's current age and culture.
Once a tool only for initiates and specialists, today the PC has become as common as, well, all those monitors sitting on office desks and overweight attache cases bulging with keyboard-screen-and-battery combinations. The influence and infiltration of the PC stretches beyond comparison with any other modern tool, even beyond the reach of common metaphors. No office machine is as common; none so well used; none so revered—and so often reviled. Unlike the now nearly forgotten typewriter that was restricted to secretaries and stenographic pools, the PC now resides resplendently on once bare drafting tables, executive desks, and kitchen counters. Unlike fax machines, calculators, and television sets, the PC doesn't do just one thing but meddles in nearly everything you do at work and at home. Unlike your telephone, pager, or microwave oven, the PC isn't something that you use and take for granted, it's something you wonder about, something you want to improve and expand, perhaps even something that you would like to understand.
Indeed, to use any tool effectively you have to understand it—what it can do, how it works, how you can use it most effectively. Making the most of your PC demands that you know more than how to rip through the packing tape on the box without lacerating your palms. You cannot just drop it on your desk, stand back, and expect knowledge to pour out as if you had tapped into a direct line to a fortune cookie factory.
Unfortunately, despite the popularity of the PC, the machine remains a mystery to too many people. For most people, the only one more baffling than programming a VCR. Everyone knows that something happens between the time your fingers press down on the keys and a letter pops up on the screen, or a page curls out of the printer, or a sound never heard before by human ears shatters the cone of your multimedia loudspeakers. Something happens, but that something seems beyond human comprehension.

Advanced technology

2008-08-09T09:19:00.000-07:00

Cell processor

Mainstream processor development is mostly targeted at compatibility andContinuity. Thus, the processor market is dominated by x86 compatible CPUsSince more than two decades now. Several new concepts tried to gain someMarket share, but it was not possible to overtake the old compatibility drivenConcepts. A group of three corporates tries another way to come into theMarket with a new idea, the cell design. The cell processor is a new try toLeverage the increasing amount of transistors per die in an efficient way. TheNew processor is targeted at the game console and consumer electronics marketTo enhance the quality of these devices. This will lead to a wide spreading,And if everybody has two or more cell processors in TV, game console or PDA, ThisPaper gives a short overview of the architecture and several programmingIdeas which help to exploit the whole processing power of the cell processor. above allthis paper explains the advancement in cell processors and their applications in modern life.it also explains the design specifications, hardware and software of the cellprocessors.And explains how The Cell processor represents an incredible leap in computing technology, and it is debuting in the consumer market.
Cell provides a breakthrough solution by adopting flexible parallel and distributed computing architecture consisting of independent, multi-core floating point processors for rich media processing. With the capability to support multiple operating systems, Cell can perform both PC/WS operating systems as well as real-time CE/Game operating systems at the same time. Scalability offered by Cell can be utilized for broader applications, from small digital CE systems within the home to other entertainment applications for rendering movies, and to the big science applications as supercomputers.

Blue ray disk

When the CD was introduced in the early '80s, it meant an enormous leap from traditional media. Not only did it offer a significant improvement in audio quality, its primary application, but its 650 MB storage capacity also meant a giant leap in data storage and retrieval. At the same time, the DVD spec used the same form factor as the CD, allowing for seamless migration to the next generation format and offering full backwards compatibility. Now, in the next millennium, high definition video demands a new solution. History proved that a significant 5-10 x increase in storage capacity and the ability to play previous generation formats are key elements for a new format to succeed. This new format has arrived with the advent of Blu-ray Disc, the only format that offers a considerable increase in storage capacity with its 25 to 50 GB data capacity. This allows for the next big application of optical media: the distribution and recording of high definition video in the highest possible quality. In fact, no other proposed format can offer the data capacity of Blu-ray Disc, and no other format will allow for the same high video quality and interactive features to create the ultimate user experience. In future Blu-ray Disc capable of holding 200 GB of data on a single side, using six 33 GB data layers will be available.

4G technology

The ever-increasing growth of user demand, the limitations of the third generationof wireless mobile communication systems, and the emergence of new mobilebroadband technologies on the market have brought researchers and industries toa thorough reflection on the fourth generation. Many prophetic visions haveappeared in the literature presenting 4G as the ultimate boundary of wirelessmobile communication without any limit to its potential, but in practical terms notgiving any design rules and thus any definition of it. In this article we give a pragmaticdefinition of 4G derived from a new user-centric methodology that considersthe user as the “cornerstone” of the design. In this way, we devise fundamentaluser scenarios that implicitly reveal the key features of 4G, which are thenexpressed explicitly in a new framework — the “user-centric” system — thatdescribes the various level of interdependency among them. This approach consequentlycontributes to the identification of the real technical step-up of 4G withrespect to 3G. Finally, an example of a potential 4G application is also given inorder to demonstrate the validity of the overall methodology. Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence is a branch of Science which deals with helping machines find solutions to complex problems in a more human-like fashion. This generally involves borrowing characteristics from human intelligence, and applying them as algorithms in a computer friendly way. A more or less flexible or efficient approach can be taken depending on the requirements established, which influences how artificial the intelligent behaviour appears.
AI is generally associated with Computer Science, but it has many important links with other fields such as Maths, Psychology, Cognition, Biology and Philosophy, among many others. Our ability to combine knowledge from all these fields will ultimately benefit our progress in the quest of creating an intelligent artificial being.