Human 4G Hotspots

We have all experienced situations where mobile data coverage has been poor. Well advertising and communcations firm BBH New York, have initiated a charity campaign called "Homeless Hotspot". Homeless people were engaged to roam the streets of Austin Texas during the SXSW Award week in March 2012, wearing T-Shirts reading "I am a 4G Hotspot" and offering conference-goers and other passersby access to the 4G Mobile data network for a donation.

BBH New York, states that "this charitable innovation initiative attempts to modernise the Street Newspaper model employed to support homeless population. At the same time providing a service to the data hungry public and a financial benefit to the homeless. 

There have been mixed reactions to this campaign. Call it a PR stunt or truely charitable gesture by BHH New York, either way the idea is a innovative one. 

Is this a PR stunt that is objectifying the homeless or is it truely innovative WiFi concept at the same time increasing awareness of the homeless, what do you think?

Human mobile data access points, Telco and ISP product managers take note!

Milk Sniff Replaced By Technology

The traditional method of identifying that your milk has gone past its life has been the trusty nose. Well does

your nose really know? Last month, crowdsourcing incubator Quirky teamed up with GE Garages and called out to the Quirky community to nominate an everyday item or process that can be improved.

The winning nomination came from San Diego entrepreneur Stephanie Burns, who wanted a milk jug that can indicate milk gone off without using the faithful nose sniff method or expiry date on the carton.
As a result, the Quirky Lab team have produced The Milkmaid which monitors your milk. It's a glass jug that has a PH sensor that monitors the PH level outside of the safe range. It also has a scale, wireless transceiver and a rechargable battery. If the milk PH level falls below the safe range, it triggers the green LEDs to turn yellow. The Milkmaid has a supporting iphone application to notifiy you if the ph or supply level drops below the mark to prompt you to buy more milk when required.

Is this too much technology for a simple problem?

Quirky are currently crowdsouricng votes for the correct price point for the Milkmaid. Another great example of a day to day issue been resloved with a smarter solution.

Despite Setbacks, Moving Forward in Clean Tech

When environmental history is written, 2010 could be seen a disaster for the clean technology industry. The

year dawned just after the disappointment that was December's U.N. global warming summit in Copenhagen, where the nations of the world failed to produce a comprehensive treaty to cut carbon emissions — the sort of agreement that could have given business the long-term confidence to invest in clean tech. It didn't help that the overblown controversy known as "climategate" — which involved allegations of fraud by climate scientists — undermined trust in global warming science, letting skeptics back into the debate. Worst of all, the Senate failed even to vote on a bill that would have capped U.S. carbon emissions and produce a market designed to kick start clean tech. In America, at least, green tech seems to have gone backwards.

But that's a myopic view. In Europe, which already has a carbon market, investment in clean energy — including wind and solar — isn't going away. China has emerged as a major player in clean tech, investing hundreds of billions of dollars in renewable energy and energy efficiency. In doing so, it's positioning itself to

lead the world in the industry of tomorrow. And even the U.S., for all its political problems, hasn't stood still: the Department of Energy, under Nobel Prize-winning physicist Steven Chu, has begun directly supporting innovative clean tech companies and pumping more money into basic research and development. Most  mportant, the U.S. — and especially Silicon Valley — is still home to what might be the world's most innovative entrepreneurs in clean tech. These folks are not short of smart ideas, as you'll see here.

Algae Biofuel

It's a dirty secret: the biggest renewable energy business in the U.S. isn't solar or wind or electric cars. It's plain old corn ethanol. Thanks largely to generous government subsidies, the U.S. produced 10.6 billion gallons of ethanol in 2009. That was enough to displace the need for 364 million barrels of oil, but study after study has shown that high levels of corn ethanol production simply aren't sustainable. Corn that could go to feed the world instead feeds our cars — and not very efficiently. The growth of corn ethanol has more to do with political realities in the U.S. (think Iowa, home of both corn and the first Presidential caucus) than it does with environmental ones.

But that doesn't mean biofuels can't play a major role in a greener U.S. energy policy — they just have to be the right kind. One of the best options on the horizon is biofuel made from algae, which counters a lot of the problems with corn ethanol. (The right strains of algae secrete oils that can be used to make fuel.) Algae do not need farmland to grow: tanks will do the job just fine anywhere there is spare land and a decent amount of sunshine. Algae also grow much faster than traditional crops, and the micro-organisms may be able to use to use wastewater or even saline water during their development, rather than fresh water. Startups like Sapphire Energy and Algenol in California and Florida are passing the pilot phase and nearing commercial development; they just need a little government help.

Solar Tower

There are two ways to harness energy from the sun. One is through photovoltaic panels, which transform sunlight directly to electricity. But — news flash — the sunlight also produces heat, which can be concentrated using mirrors to produce steam, which then drives electric turbines. It's this second form — called solar thermal or concentrated solar power — that has the most potential for utility-scale power generation. In fact, there are already solar thermal plants operating in the deserts of Nevada and California, using low rows of curved mirrors to concentrate sunlight.

But Bill Gross at eSolar thinks that he can improve on that fairly basic technology. Instead of rows of mirrors, eSolar uses vertical mirrored towers of that perfectly concentrate sunlight on a ground target. Using sophisticated software that Gross helped write himself — he was an Internet entrepreneur before breaking into alternative power — the mirrors perfectly track the sun as it crosses the sky, maximizing the amount of electricity that can be produced. The result is a relatively compact but power utility-scale plant that gets the most out of that free source of energy called the sun.

Custom Biofuels

Before alternative energy, biotech was the next big thing in California's Silicon Valley, with PhD-stocked

startups racing to decode the genome and create new and better drugs. But innovators are discovering that the two fields have a lot in common — especially when it comes to biofuels. First-generation biofuels are limited: corn ethanol packs less energy per gallon than petroleum, and new fuels like biodiesel often can't be used in car engines without expensive technical conversions. That's a hidden obstacle to wider adoption; there is a trillion-dollar infrastructure already in place around petroleum, and changing it won't be easy or cheap.

But what if you could adapt biofuels to use our current infrastructure, not the other way around? That's what a handful of biotech companies are doing right now. Startups like Amyris and LS9 are using the tools of biotechnology to produce new biofuels that are sustainable and ready for use in our cars and trucks right now. The companies create custom microbes in the lab that can produce biofuels to order — even "green crude" that has most of the benefits of petroleum without the drawbacks. The technology is still a long way from commercial scale, but it provides some of the best hopes for a biofuelled future.

Electric Cars

It's an article of faith among many environmentalists: the future will be electric. But how long is it going to take? Electric cars have been around since the dawn of the automobile — in fact, the technology hasn't changed all that much since Henry Ford's own electric Model-Ts. But the electric car lost out to gasoline-powered ones for good reasons: gasoline carries a lot of power per gallon, while batteries never had the capacity to move cars very far. Even in the 1990s, with the introduction of improved electrics like GM's lamentedly discontinued EV1, battery-powered cars remained a fetish for those who value their carbon footprint over convenience.

Times really have changed, though — and 2010 could finally mark the tipping point for electric cars. GM's long-awaited Volt — not a pure electric but a plug-in hybrid — is finally set to go on sale at the end of this year. The Japanese car company Nissan is going one better with its all-electric Leaf — the one with the polar bear ads — and Ford and Toyota have electrics in the works as well. Smaller startups are experimenting with ultra-efficient electric cars, while the innovative company Better Place is installing networks of battery-charging stations in Israel for its own electric transportation system, with a subscription payment system modeled on the wireless industry. Electric cars still have a number of obstacles to overcome, and they won't make a huge dent in carbon emissions unless the grid itself is steadily cleaned up, but they are closing in on the mainstream.

Lithium-ion Batteries

It's not just electricity generation that will make a difference in the future, it's also energy storage. And that's

especially true for mobile devices — whether that means iPhones or especially, electric cars. Low-capacity batteries have held back electric cars for decades, but that's beginning to change thanks to a new(ish) technology. The electronics of the 1990s — and most hybrid cars today — used nickel-ion batteries for power. They were an upgrade over the lead batteries used in the past, but they weren't strong enough to power electric cars for long distances.

Lithium-ion batteries, however, are a potential game-changer. If you use a laptop or a mobile phone, chances are you already own a lithium-ion battery. (Without them, your iPhone wouldn't even have the less-than-great operating life it does today.) Lithium-ion batteries can pack more power in a smaller case, so the battery for GM's plug-in hybrid Volt is tiny compared to the gigantic power pack that had been used on its EV1. A smaller battery is also lighter, which reduces the weight of the electric car and the power needed to drive it. The price on lithium-ion batteries still needs to come down — a battery for a new electric car can cost more than $10,000. But battery-making companies like A123 Systems in Massachusetts are already emerging as the future titans of a clean energy economy.

Fuel Cells

Sometimes high tech can start out low tech. Fuel cells are an old and basic technology; they generate electricity within a cell through the reaction of a fuel and an oxidant. Essentially they're a kind of chemical battery, and your average high school chemistry class can make one. Unlike batteries, however, they can't store electricity; you need an outside fuel source that has to be replenished over time. But their simplicity has also made them useful for certain purposes; NASA has long used hydrogen fuel cells to power its spacecraft.

Inventors have tried to use hydrogen fuel cells as a cleaner way to create electricity commercially. Honda and other car companies have made hydrogen fuel cell-powered cars, for example, but they've always been limited by the cost. That's beginning to change, however, thanks to a California startup called Bloom Energy. The company exploded onto the public scene earlier this year with the release of its Bloom Box, a system that uses fuel cell technology to provide off-the-grid power. The Bloom Boxes — about half the size of a shipping container — use solid oxide fuel cells, which generate electricity by oxidizing natural gas. The technology has existed for awhile, but Bloom figured out how to carry out the reaction at a relatively low temperature, making the Bloom Boxes safe to use in corporate offices — which is exactly where they're being put to work now, by companies like Google and eBay that can use the lower carbon power as an off-the-grid back up to conventional grid electricity and as a way to reduce their own carbon footprint.

Rooftop Wind Power

If you want to provide off-the-grid power for your own home, there's only been one solution: solar panels.

Wind power is usually deployed on a utility-scale, in vast farms of mighty turbines that feed directly into the grid. That's a scale that helps explains why more than 10,000 MW of wind power were installed in the U.S. in 2009. Solar has always been the choice for homeowners who want to stop paying electricity bills and start generating their own juice.

But if wind can do big, it can also do small — and it does rooftops as well. The startup Windtronics is developing mini-wind turbines that can be installed on any flat root, either alone or in larger arrays. Each turbine measures about 6 ft. in diameter and looks like a large, circular window fan, but it can generate an average of 1,500 KW/h a year, with more or less depending on wind strength. And unlike utility-scale turbines, the Windtronic turbine contains no rotating gearbox to generate electricity, and is thus much quieter. In an ordinary wind turbine, the blades moves the gears, the gears turn a generator, and the generator creates electricity. With a Windtronics model, the blades are equipped with magnets at the tips and are enclosed in a wheel that contains coiled copper, so the entire turbine is an electric generator. That makes the Windtronics turbine silent — something your neighbors will appreciate.

Tidal Power

Tides are the winds of the oceans, generating a tremendous amount of kinetic energy that can be tapped with the right kind of technology. In fact, tides might be better than wind, since they're much more predictable. And while the best wind resources tend to be located far from major population centers, most of the big cities around the world are located right next to the water. The problem has always been that building turbines and other infrastructure is significantly more expensive underwater than on land, since salts can erode equipment and maintenance is a challenge.
That's still the case, but tidal power is slowly beginning to gain acceptance. The technology works the same way a wind turbine does: the steady movement in and out of the tides turns an underwater turbine, which generates electricity. And as with wind, there are some parts of the world that are particularly rich in tidal potential, like the Bay of Fundy in Canada, home to some of the most intense tides on the planet. New York City's tides are a lot calmer, but the city does have potential for tidal power, and companies like Verdant are tapping it.

Green IT

Computers seem so clean, don't they, just sitting there and humming, without any noxious emissions? But of

course computers need power, and right now most of our power comes from fossil fuels. Computers and IT are now a small but rapidly growing source of carbon — about 2% of global emissions, a figure that could easily double within a decade.

That's where green IT comes in. Whether it's more energy-efficient laptops and server farms, or software that automatically powers down our desktops when they're not being used, there are ways to curb the IT sector's energy hunger ways without losing performance. Software like Granola, for example, can run in the background of your operating system and tune up your computer's own energy-saving hardware, ensuring you're not wasting volts unnecessarily. There's no reason you can't get all the computing power you need without wasting power.

Biochar

Given the scale of the climate challenge, everyone wants to find a silver bullet, a way to cut carbon emissions

quickly and cheaply. Until someone perfects cold fusion, however, a cleaner economy will require a portfolio of new and innovative technologies, each playing its part. But that doesn't mean there aren't shortcuts on the road to zero carbon. Here's a deceptively simple one: biochar.

Plants absorb carbon dioxide as long as they're alive, but once they're cut down or burned, that carbon is released back into the atmosphere. Keeping trees standing — especially in tropical areas — is one way to save that carbon. But if plants are cut down, perhaps for agriculture, and you burn the residue in a controlled, low-oxygen atmosphere — a simple process called pyrolysis — you can create charcoal, a stable and solid form of carbon. If you then mix the biochar with certain soils, you can also reduce the amount of methane and nitrous oxide, both of them greenhouse gases, that the soil would naturally release. The result is a two-for-one carbon cutting special, and the potential is tremendous. A recent study in Nature Geoscience found that biochar could offset 12% of global carbon emissions. The challenge is that biochar has relatively little value on its own, so there's not much business case for making the product right now. That's one more reason a carbon price would be so useful.

Waste to Energy

It's the perfect form of recycling: taking our trash and using it to create electricity. Given the amount of

garbage the average American puts on the curb every pickup day, that could add up to a whole lot of power. One simple way is to burn trash, and use the heat to generate steam that can run an electric turbine. But that method has significant drawbacks; not all garbage burns, of course, and the waste that does will often produce heavy emissions, including dangerous and sometimes carcinogenic dioxins. So right now most of our non-recyclable waste — and a lot of waste that is recyclable — ends up buried beneath the ground.

But there are companies working on smarter ways to recycle our trash. Costaka has pioneered technology that can turn biomass waste such as grass or woodchips into gas and eventually into ethanol. Their process uses less water and has a smaller carbon footprint than traditional ethanol. The Canadian company Enerkem has a similar process, but the firm has gone further, able to build standardized, easy-to-install plants that allow any municipality to begin turning garbage into cleaner biofuel.

Artificial Photosynthesis

As smart as human beings can be, nature almost always does it better — possibly because nature has had

hundreds of millions of years to get it right. Take photosynthesis for example. Plants with green leaves are able to capture the sun's energy and turn it into useful chemical fuel in a process that is much, much more efficient than our best photovoltaic solar panels.

That's why there are a number of scientists working on creating artificial photosynthesis; it was even a major plot point in Solar, the English writer Ian McEwan's global warming-themed novel. Daniel Nocera, an energy expert at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is pushing a form of artificial photosynthesis that would create electricity that would then be harnessed to produce hydrogen for use in fuel cells. That's only one way to harness photosynthesis, but already startups like Joule Biotechnologies are looking for ways to take it commercial. The future has to be solar-powered; the question will be how best to harness that free source of energy. The trees might have the best idea.

Modular Nuclear Power

Nukes have long been the third rail to the environmental movement; Greenpeace, after all, got its start as an

anti-nuke organization. But while radioactive waste and the risk of major accidents still leave many greens wary of nuclear power, there's no ignoring the fact that nuclear is the only utility-scale, non-intermittent electricity source that doesn't emit carbon. If you replaced all of the U.S.'s nuclear plants — which supply about a fifth of the the nation's electricity — with coal plants, carbon emissions would skyrocket.

But there's still a reluctance to build nuclear plants — no new one has been constructed in the U.S. in decades — and it goes beyond environmental concerns. Nuclear power plants are incredibly expensive investments, and right now few utilities would take on the financial risk of building one, or get banks to lend them the necessary capital, even with additional government aid. But what if you could shrink the size of a nuclear plant? That's what companies like NuScale Power and Babcock & Wilcox are trying to do. By building a modular plant that might be a quarter the size of a the current multi-gigawatt operations, it's possible to reduce the capital expenditures needed to start construction and cut the risk that would be associated with an accident. We may at last be approaching a time that nuclear goes nimble.

Green Building Materials

Want your new building to stand out? Make it green. Green architecture has gone from a niche interest to a major design industry. Massive skyscrapers like the new Bank of America headquarters in midtown Manhattan advertise their energy efficiency, particularly their score on the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) scale. What MPG is for cars, LEED is for buildings. Sustainability has even become a point of competition among mega-mansion owners, with multi-millionaires in California jostling to build the greenest house in America.

Much of green architecture comes from design — making use of natural light and other features to cut down on energy waste; but smarter building materials can make a difference as well. Companies like Serious Materials produce highly efficient windows, insulation and other building features that reduce the amount of heat lost to the outside. Built right, "passive houses" can even be so energy efficient that they require no outside heat at all, bringing energy bills close to zero.

Green Concrete

Making cement for concrete is energy-intensive. Extremely energy-intensive. Here's how it works: you heat pulverized limestone clay — which is heavy in carbon — along with sand to 1,450°C (2,600°F), usually with a fossil fuel like coal or natural gas. Unsurprisingly, that process generates a lot of carbon dioxide: manufacturing one metric ton of cement releases 650 to 920 kilograms of CO2. The nearly 3 billion metric tons of cement that were produced worldwide last year accounted for about 5% of all CO2 emissions.

The good news is that there are enormous carbon savings that could be realized by making cement production more energy efficient. For example, the company Hycrete had reformulated the products used to waterproof concrete in a way that allows for recycling in the future, reducing the lifetime energy footprint of a building. The London-based startup Novacem is going further, working on a new cement production method that would actually absorb more CO2 than it releases, by substituting cabon-rich limestone with magnesium silicates that contain no stored carbon. As the cement hardens, CO2 in the air actually reacts to make solid carbonates that strengthen the cement while holding onto the gas. Novacem can't yet use its process on a commercial scale, but if it can, concrete could become carbon negative.

Smart Meters

Our electrical devices may be 21st century, but the electrical grid we plug them into is strictly 20th. The grid is inefficient and prone to breakdowns — as anyone who remembers the great East Coast blackout of 2003 would know. Improving the grid is going to be a vital part of helping clean energy scale up: better transmission lines are needed to carry wind-generated electricity from the middle of the U.S. to the more heavily populated coasts, for example, while a more flexible grid can better handle the intermittency of renewable power sources.

But the first installment on a smarter gird will be smarter meters. Right now the electric meter in your home tells you — and the electric company — only the most basic information. The majority of utilities won't even know that homes have lost power in a blackout until enough annoyed customers call them. But smart meters connected to a network can relay that sort of information instantly, giving utilities and customers alike a real-time picture of how much power is being used at any given moment. And as new appliances are networked into smart meters, we'll be able to use them much more efficiently — programming our washing machines to run only during times of low power demand, say. By smoothing out the electricity demand curves, smart meters can help utilities get more out of the power plants they already have — and avoid building more.

Molten Salt Storage

Renewable energy has many advantages, as environmentalists won't hesitate to tell you. There's no need to

pay for fuel since the wind and the sun are free, and that saves utilities from the price spikes seen in coal, natural gas, oil and nuclear. But wind and solar face one major problem: intermittency. When the wind doesn't blow and the sun doesn't shine, turbines and silicon panels aren't producing electricity, and there's no way to store the electricity they do produce during peak times if it's not being used. That's a serious obstacles since utilities, often by law, need to provide enough electricity to meet demand at all times.

But utility-scale solar companies are working on ways to store the energy they produce during the brightest days. One option: molten salt. It can be used in solar thermal, which employs powerful mirrors to focus the sun's heat to create steam, driving an electric turbine. The surplus heat produced during the day can be used to warm up massive amounts of salt, which can absorb significant amounts of heat. When the sun goes down — or when it's simply cloudy — that heat can be used to generate steam and run an electric turbine. It's not perfect, but it's the best battery that's been developed yet for utility-scale solar.

Recycling e-Waste

High-tech may have a clean image — all smooth-edged iPhones and liquid crystal displays —

but the elements that go into mobile phones, computers and TVs can be polluting to the environment and dangerous to human health if incorrectly disposed of. And that's exactly what happens in parts of the developing world, where the poor take apart your phone with little protection, exposing themselves to mercury, lead, cadmium and other dangerous metals so that they can get to the gold, copper and other valuable materials within. So-called e-waste is the fastest growing part of the solid waste stream, and some 20 to 50 million metric tons of it are thrown out every year.

But there are ways to recycle e-waste, reducing the need to mine more of the metals that go into high-tech items, and preventing the environmental consequences of poorly processed electronics. CloudBlue, based in New Jersey, helps tech companies take care of their e-waste, arranging for direct pickup and processing, ensuring that valuable metals can be reused and recycled for future electronics. For customers like banks that have to worry about sensitive data that might be encoded on old computers, CloudBlue can also process the waste onsite. With all this, the company can ensure that no e-waste will ever end up in a landfill — or worse, poisoning a child in Africa or China.

Google Driverless Car

I could still remember the day I watch the iRobot as a teen, and being skeptical about my brother’s statement that one day, the driverless car will become reality. And it’s now a reality, made possible by… a search engine company, Google.

While the data source is still a secret recipe, the Google Driveless car is powered by artificial intelligence that utilizes the input from the video cameras inside the car, a sensor on the vehicle’s top, and some radar and position sensors attached to different positions of the car. Sounds like a lot of effort to mimic the human intelligence in a car, but so far the system has successfully driven 1609 kilometres without human commands!

“You can count on one hand the number of years it will take before ordinary people can experience this.” Google co-founder, Sergey Brin said. However, innovation is an achievement, consumerization is the headache, as Google currently face the challenge to forge the system into an affordable gem that every worker with an average salary could benefit from.

Project Fiona

Meet the first generation of the gaming tablet. Razer’s Project Fiona is a serious gaming tablet built for hardcore gaming. Once it’s out, it will be the frontier for the future tablets, as tech companies might want to build their own tablets, dedicated towards gaming, but for now Fiona is the only possible one that will debut in 2013.

This beast features next generation Intel® Core i7 processor geared to render all your favorite PC games, all at the palm of your hands. Crowned as the best gaming accessories manufacturer, Razer clearly knows how to build user experience straight into the tablet, and that means 3-axis gyro, magnetometer, accelerometer and full-screen user interface supporting multi-touch. My body and soul are ready.

Firefox OS

iOS and Android are great, but they each have their own rules and policies that certainly inhibit the creative efforts of developers. Mozilla has since decided to build a new mobile operating system from scratch, one that will focus on true openness, freedom and user choice. It’s Firefox OS.

Firefox OS is built on Gonk, Gecko and Gaia software layers – for the rest of us, it means it is built on open source, and it carries web technologies such as HTML5 and CSS3.

Developers can create and debut web apps without the blockade of requirements set by app stores, and users could even customize the OS based on their needs. Currently the OS has made its debut on Android-compatible phones, and the impression so far, is great.

You can use the OS to do essential tasks you do on iOS or Android: calling friends, browsing web, taking photos, playing games, they are all possible on Firefox OS, set to rock the smartphone market.

SmartThings

Upcoming Technology

The current problem that most devices have is that they function as a standalone being, and it require effort for tech competitors to actually partner with each other and build products that can truly connect with each other. Smart Things is here to make your every device, digital or non-digital, connect together and benefit you.

With SmartThings you can get your smoke alarms, humidity, pressure and vibration sensors to detect changes in your house and alert you through your smartphone! Imagine the possibilities with this.

You could track who’s been inside your house, turn on the lights while you’re entering a room, shut windows and doors when you leave the house, all with the help of something that only costs $500! Feel like a tech lord in your castle with this marvel.

Eye Tribe

Amaizing Tech.

Eye tracking has been actively discussed by technology enthusiasts throughout these years, but it’s really challenging to implement. But Eye Tribe actually did this. They successfully created the technology to allow you to control your tablet, play flight simulator, and even slice fruits in Fruit Ninja only with your eye movements.

It’s basically taking the common eye-tracking technology and combining it with a front-facing camera plus some serious computer-vision algorithm, and voila, fruit slicing done with the eyes! A live demo was done in LeWeb this year and we may actually be able to see it in in action in mobile devices in 2013.

Currently the company is still seeking partnership to bring this sci-fi tech into the consumer market but you and I know that this product is simply too awesome to fail.

Leap Motion

Science Updates.

Multi-touch desktop is a (miserably) failed product due to the fact that hands could get very tired with prolonged use, but Leap Motion wants to challenge this dark area again with a more advanced idea. It lets you control the desktop with fingers, but without touching the screen.

It’s not your typical motion sensor, as Leap Motion allows you to scroll the web page, zoom in the map and photos, sign documentss and even play a first person shooter game with only hand and finger movements. The smooth reaction is the most crucial key point here. More importantly, you can own this future with just $70, a price of a premium PS3 game title!

If this device could completely work with Oculus Rift to simulate a real-time gaming experience, gaming is going to get a major make-over.

Oculus Rift

Upcoming Tech.

Virtual Reality gaming is here in the form of Oculus Rift.This history-defining 3D headset lets you mentally feel that you are actually inside a video gme. In the Rift’s virtual world, you could turn your head around with ultra-low latency to view the world in high resolution display.

There are premium products in the market that can do the same, but Rift wants you to enjoy the experience at only $300, and the package even comes as a development kit. This is the beginning of the revolution for next-generation gaming

The timing is perfect as the world is currently bombarded with the virtual reality topic that could also be attributed to Sword Art Online, the anime series featuring the characters playing games in an entirely virtual world. While we’re getting there, it could take a few more years to reach that level of realism. Oculus Rift is our first step.

Form 1

Upcoming Technologies.

Just as the term suggests, 3D printing is the technology that could forge your digital design into a solid real-life product. It’s nothing new for the advanced mechanical industry, but a personal 3D printer is definitely a revolutionary idea.

Everybody can create their own physical product based on their custom design, and no approval needed from any giant manufacturer! Even the James Bond’s Aston Martin which was crashed in the movie was a 3D printed product!

Form 1 is one such personal 3D printer which can be yours at just $2799. It may sound like a high price but to have the luxury of getting producing your own prototypes, that’s a reaonable price.

Imagine a future where every individual professional has the capability to mass produce their own creative physical products without limitation. This is the future where personal productivity and creativity are maximized.

Google Glass

Upcoming Technologies

Augmented Reality has already gotten into our life in the forms of simulated experiment and education app, but Google is taking it several steps higher with Google Glass.Theoretically, with Google Glass, you are able to view social media feeds, text, Google Maps, as well as navigate with GPS and take photos. You will also get the latest updates while you are on the ground.

It’s truly what we called vision, and it’s absolutely possible given the fact that the Google’s co-founder, Sergey Brin has demo'ed the glass with skydivers and creatives. Currently the device is only available to some developers with the price tag of $1500, but expect other tech companies trying it out and building an affordable consumer version.

Pakistan has vision for Science and Technology

French Ambassador Philippe Thiebaud says his country is extending all-out support to Pakistan in its various initiatives for science and technology promotion. We are working with PSF to promote the ‘La main à la pâte’ (education programme) in some schools in addition to regularly holding science expos in various cities for awareness

What has attracted French aid towards Pakistan?

France has along tradition of economy development and science and technology could be the basis for cooperation for future economic development. We have a vision that Pakistan is a country where there are a lot of opportunities where France can extend support for initiatives for the promotion of science and technology.Presently, France is supporting the government of Pakistan’s endeavours to promote science and technology. The population of Pakistan is a huge assetas it is going to be130 million in the near future;increase in population means more opportunities for higher education and in science and technology related fields.According to my observation, Pakistani people are very a talented nation and currently a large number of Pakistani professors and academics are serving in European and US universities. Since the government of France accords priority to science and technology and the related fields, it prefers the states concentrating on these sectors and Pakistan is one of them.

How much support the French government is providing to Pakistan?

There are a lot of programmes that are ongoing incollaboration with Pakistani government and universities.These programmes include grant of scholarships for Masters and PhD level study in many French universities. Pakistanistudents are already studying in diverse fields like sciences and social sciences in France and getting quality education to our satisfaction. Another key area of cooperation between France and Pakistan is the field of Archaeology. French archaeologists are also working in Balochistan province on various sites. The cooperation between Pakistan and France is very broad; scientists of both the countries are working with each other under different collaborative programmes.Apart from this different French and Pakistani universities are also collaborating with each other in different scientific disciplines as well.I would like mention here that France also initiated a need-based scholarship for students in Pakistaniuniversities during 2012.We plan to expand this programme in the coming years as there are more and more students who are showing a remarkable achievements in various disciplines and they, I think, should be encouraged through offering an opportunity for quality education. Another key area on which France is stressing upon is the gender balance in Pakistani universities. We have initiateda scholarship programme inSardar Bahadar Khan (SBK) Women University, Quetta, as we believe that gender balance is the essential for sustainable development in Pakistan. I would again like to mention here that we strongly believe that Pakistan has a lot of positive potential in terms of human resource. This is the strong endeavour to continue rather expand the scope for the outstanding students of Pakistan.

What is your opinion about the conferring of Medal to PSF Chairman Dr. Manzoor Hussain Soomro?

Dr. Manzoor Hussain Soomro has been very active in science promotion in different capacities from the past many years.He is a renowned figure in the fields of agriculturist/biochemistry and science and is actively involved with Pakistan Science Foundation in different capacities from the past 20 years. This award is conferred by the French Government in recognition of extensive services in the field of Science and Technology. I think he has done a lot for the promotion of science and technology in Pakistan through taking various initiatives especially in schools, colleges, universities and other related institutes. Holding science caravans in various cities in collaboration with the French embassy has done a lot in this regard and the credit of course goes to Dr. Manzoor.

Intrusting Science Facts

Amazing Facts About The Air Force One (official ‘plane’ Of The US President)

1."Air Force One" isn't technically a plane: It's simply the radio call name for any U.S. Air Force plane carrying the president of the United States. As soon as the president steps aboard an Air Force plane, that plane is referred to as Air Force One by the crew and all air traffic controllers, in order to avoid confusion with any other planes in the area. If the president rides on an Army aircraft, that aircraft is Army One, and whenever he boards his specialized helicopter, that craft is Marine One. Civilians generally refer to the physical plane itself as Air Force One

2.Today, there are actually two customized Boeing 747-200B jets that regularly fly under this designation. They are nearly identical and are almost as tall as a six story building, and as long as a city block.

3.Air Force One is one of the most recognizable symbols of the presidency. Emblazoned with the words "United States of America," the American flag, and the Seal of the President of the United States, it is an undeniable presence wherever it flies

4.Air Force One has unlimited range and can carry the President wherever he needs to travel. The onboard electronics are hardened to protect against an electromagnetic pulse, and Air Force One is equipped with advanced secure communications equipment, allowing the aircraft to function as a mobile command center in the event of an attack on the United States. The media refer to it as “The flying Oval Office” or the “ The flying White House”. On September 11th, 2001, the president's plane showed that it was much more than an executive jet -- it became a mobile bunker when all ground positions seemed vulnerable to attack

5.Airforce One has four General Electric CF6-80C2B1 jet engines, which provide 56,700 pounds of thrust a piece. The top speed is between 630 and 700 miles (about 1,126km) per hour and the ceiling maximum (i.e how high the plane can fly) is 45,100 feet (commercial 747s fly at about 30,000 feet)

6.The plane carries 53,611 gallons (about 203,000 litres) of fuel and weighs 833,000 pounds (about 377,000 kg) fully loaded for a long-range mission. With a full tank, the plane can fly half way around the world. The plane has mid-ir refueling capability. As with the B-2 and other combat craft, in-flight refueling gives Air Force One the ability to stay up in the air indefinitely, which could be crucial in an emergency situation

7.Inside, the President and his travel companions enjoy 4,000 square feet of floor space on three levels, including an extensive suite for the President that features a large office, lavatory, and conference room. The president has onboard living quarters, with his own bedroom, bathroom, workout room/gym and office space. Air Force One also includes a medical suite that can function as an operating room, and a doctor is permanently on board. The plane’s two food preparation galleys can feed 100 people at a time

8.Air Force One also has quarters for those who accompany the President, including senior advisors, Secret Service officers, traveling press, and other guests. Several cargo planes typically fly ahead of Air Force One to provide the President with services needed in remote locations

9.The two planes are military aircraft, designed to withstand an air attack. Among other things, the plane is outfitted with electronic counter measures (ECM) to jam enemy radar. The plane can also eject flares to throw heat-seeking missiles off course.

10.The plane is completely off limits to Many. Even visiting politicians and journalists aren't allowed in some parts of the plane, and the Air Force is careful to conceal specific details of the craft's layout including its advanced avionics and defenses

11.One of the most remarkable feature on the plane is its extensive electronics. It has 85 onboard telephones, a collection of two-way radios, fax machines and computer connections. It also has 19 televisions and assorted office equipment. The phone system is set up for normal air to ground connections and secure lines. The president and his staff can reach just about anybody in the world while cruising tens of thousands of feet in the air. The onboard electronics include about 238 miles of wiring (twice the amount you'd find in a normal 747). Heavy shielding is tough enough to protect the wiring and crucial electronics from the electromagnetic pulse associated with a nuclear blast

12.Air Force one is a military aircraft, designed to withstand an air attack. Among other things, the plane is outfitted with electronic counter measures (ECM) to jam enemy radar. The plane can also eject flares to throw heat-seeking missiles off course. Some of the most interesting parts of the plane -- its advanced avionics and defenses -- are classified

13.Every Air Force One flight is classified as a military operation, and it is handled as such. Air Force crews at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland carefully inspect the plane, and the runway, before every flight. When it's time to head off, the Marine One helicopter brings the president from the White House to Andrews Air Force Base. Teams all over the base keep an eye out for any unauthorized craft in the area and are authorized to shoot on sight. In advance of every Air Force One flight, the Air Force crew sends C141 Starlifter cargo carrier planes, toting the president's motorcade, to the destination. This collection of bulletproof limousines and vans, loaded with weaponry, keeps the president safe on the ground.

14.Air Force One can comfortably carry 70 passengers and 26 crew members . These crew members are carefully screened military personnel, with exemplary service histories. Even the crew members who prepare meals must operate with a high level of security. For example, when buying food, they must hit the stores undercover, and they must select markets at random, in order to protect the president from a poison attack. Onboard the plane, the crew provides 24-hour first class service. 

15.Most presidents form close connections with their flight crew, and the final Air Force One flight is always an emotional trip.

How to increase website traffic

Improve your internet presense1.Offer free,orginal and quality content on your site
2.Supplement your orginal content
3.Trying to get more backlnes on your website this may help to increase traffic
4.Improve your search engines ranking
5.Get linked
6.Use social midea like facebook,google+,twetter,orkut etc
7.Advertise your presense
8.Give freebies
9.be patient
10.Us all of these free techniques to increase traffic to your website

Improve your site1.Balance your page
2.Clean backgrounds
3.For easy navigation,you should create a toolbar with links that are easy to navigate and position the toolbar in an area that makes sense
4.Text readability should make your pages easy to read,break up blocks of text and create short paragraphs
5.Horizontal scrolling
6.Make it quick

How to use your pendeive as a RAM.

Many of the programs in the system uses lots of memory during operations. The processing speed of a system depends on RAM. For those systems which has low RAM this will be a nightmare. So to solve this problem use your pendrive or USB as a RAM. Using pendrive as a RAM increases the system performance. It is not a difficult process you can easily do this with the help of the following simple steps. First insert your pendrive (minimum 2GB recommended). Format your pendrive. Steps for Windows XP : 1.Right click on “My Computer” and go to “properties”. 2.Now click on ‘Advance tab’. 3.Click on the ‘settings’ of performance. 4.Now the performance options appear. 5.Go to ‘Advance tab’. Click on ‘change’ option of virtual memory. 6.Select your pen drive. 7.Click on ‘custom size’ which is a radio button. It displays the initial and maximum size of the pen drive. 8.Click on ‘set’ button. 9.Click ‘OK’ to complete the setup. 10.Finally you have to restart your PC. Steps for Windows 8 and 7 1.Plug in your Pen drive. Format it. 2.Right click on the pen drive icon. Select ‘properties’. 3.Select ‘Ready boost’. 4.Click “use this device”. 5.Now select the maximum space that RAM can give to the computer. 6.Click ‘ok’ and ‘apply’. This is how you can use your USB as RAM. This results in the improvement in performance of your PC.

Amaizing Ideas by Tech. Experts....