Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Space Tourism Virgin Galactic takes on the world view

Space Tourism Virgin Galactic takes on the world view


It seems that sky is not the limit after all, literally. There’s been a lot of research and development going on in the science & tech world, related to space travelling and tourism, thus there are several firms trying to make it possible.


Having explored the Earth to its core, the companies are now trying to reach out now, i.e. in the space. World View and Virgin Galactic are two leading firms, moving ahead in the field of space tourism. While the main motto of Richard Branson’s baby Virgin Galactic remains to make possible tourism at an altitude of about 360,000 feet, the humble World View will target the 100,000 feet altitude.


Since Virgin Galactic will be offering sub-orbital rides, the cost normally goes up, to ~$250,000, as compared to that of World View’s, $75,000.


Space Tourism Virgin Galactic1-PING


Some of the differences between the two rides are:



  • Since Virgin Galactic will take you in the space, you’ll be able to feel the weightlessness. Yea, you get to fly. On the other hand, with World View, you’ll remain under the influence of gravity.

  • The two firms employ different techniques to take you up there. While Virgin Galactic offers a rocket propelled ride, World View’s Helium balloon will take your gondola up there.

  • The last and the most significant difference lies in the amount of time that you get to adore the space. With Virgin Galactic, despite the above mentioned perks, you don’t get much time to stay in the space, but with World View’s “spacecraft”, you get to spend a handsome couple of hours!


As more and more firms rise, the cost will automatically come down, and who knows, you’ll be reading this blog from up there then!




Space Tourism Virgin Galactic takes on the world view

Nokia Lumia 1520 and 1320 six-inch Phablets

Nokia Lumia 1520 and 1320 six-inch Phablets


The successful Lumia series is back with a new lineup of two phablets, Lumia 1520 and Lumia 1320. This is the first time Nokia has come up with phablets.


Lumia 1320 manages to pack a 6-inch 720p IPS Clearback display, and is powered by a dual-core 1.7 Ghz Qualcomm Snapdragon. It runs the latest windows phone 8 operating system, and with 1GB of RAM, multi tasking becomes a piece of cake. Apart from that, Lumia 1320 has an 8GB of internal memory.


The 5.0 MP camera in this phablet is, as expected from the Lumia series, good. The Lumia 1320, bundled with a 3400mAh battery, represents the best deal of the bunch.


Nokia Lumia 1320-PING




The Lumia 1520 is Nokia’s high-end “phablet” and a powerhouse of productivity, featuring a six inch 1080p display, and a qualcomm snapdragon 800 2.2 GHz Quad-core CPU powering it. The Lumia 1520 is Nokia’s first update 3 device featuring the Lumia “Black” firmware, a rolling cover and a 20 MP camera with a F/2.0 lens which gives you a clear shot. The device also has a 32 GB of internal storage, expandable to 64GB, which will give you enough space. Aa 2 GB of RAM, making multi-tasking an easy affair. Also, the 1520 has a massive 3400 mAh battery.


Nokia Lumia 1520-PING




Compared to Lumias, the 1520 has 4 high-amplitude audio capture (HAAC) microphones on board to give it excellent audio fidelity, on calls and while recording videos. Lumia 1520 also features a new refocus lens and several productivity apps from NOKIA.


It is available in 4 colours including yellow, white, black and glossy red.


The kicker is that both 1520 and 1320 both support 4G LTE and HSPA+ connectivity. And both of have NFC and DLNA which will make sharing fun.



Nokia Lumia 1520 and 1320 six-inch Phablets

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

iPad Air and iPad Mini 2

iPad Air and iPad Mini 2


First they transformed the mobile computing scenario by introducing an iPad, way back in 2010. Now, the leading tab makers are back with two more marvelous pieces of machine, set to transform the way you look at tablets!


The iPad Air, and iPad Mini with retina display.


Apple Air-PING


iPad Air


As Apple says “Desktop class architecture, No desktop required”, this slim trim version of the iPad catches your attention with its sleek and neat design. It is now 0.44 pounds lighter, i.e. weighs just a pound, and is ~2mm thinner, than its predecessor.


On the performance front, Apple makes sure it doesn’t have to take its words back, thus makes iPad Air a hardcore performer, by powering it with the new A7 chip, driven by a 64-bit architecture.


The Wi-Fi variant has a starting price of 499$ on the Apple store, while the Wi-Fi+Cellular variant starts from 629$.


The 5MP main & 1.2 MP front cameras are exceptional as always.


Apple Mini with retina display-PING


iPad Mini, with Retina Display


The latest variant in the ‘mini’-series is the brand new iPad mini, bundled with a Retina display.


The 7.9 inch screen of this device looks amazing, and boasts the 2048 x 1536 resolution very brilliantly. The pixel density has been elevated to a whopping 326 pixels per inch, which makes the display even more crisp and vibrant. This can also be looked in this way that the 3.1 million pixels of a 9.7 inch iPad have been embedded in a 7.9-inch screen size!


Apart from all the connectivity features, this variant is, also, powered by an A7 processor, thus enhancing the computing possibilities.


Similar to the Air, iPad mini also has 5MP & 1.2 MP cameras.


The iPad mini has a starting price of 399$ for the Wi-Fi variant.



iPad Air and iPad Mini 2

Monday, October 28, 2013

Heineken’s Countertop Sub Chills Beer

Heineken’s Countertop Sub Chills Beer


With even start-ups now offering beer pints as perks to the employees, you must already know how important beer has become!


Be it during the soccer match, or the ICC World Cup, or a date, or even a night at the disc, a chilled beer is always in demand. To cater to this demand of the people, although there are several cooling products already available in the market, but the leading market player, “Heineken” has come up with a brand new product called “The Sub”.


Yea, as you’d have already noticed it, the name is inspired from the word “Submarine”, because of the design of the appliance. The Sub lets you to chill your beer to an awesome 2 degrees temperature, thus abiding by the “Chiller the beer, better it is” law!


Heineken’s Countertop Sub Chills Beer1-PING


On the design front, Marc Newson, a very well-known product designer, has put his genius to do the work, as a result of which the product that we get is ‘beer-friendly’, and pouring the beer out of the appliance are a piece of cake. The Sub is compact in size, and weighs about 6.8kg, hence fits in your kitchen without much of an effort.


The body of this chiller is made up of pressurized aluminum, while the tray inside it is of Magnetic drip type. From the inside, the Sub can contain about 2L of beer, which’s sufficient for a session!


The noise levels during the operation are moderate, at 25dB, and also, it won’t burn a hole in your pocket with the electricity bill, as it has been accredited with an A+ energy rating.


The only con about The Sub is its, at present, incompatibility with other brands.


The Sub comes with a 2yr warranty.



Heineken’s Countertop Sub Chills Beer

World"s first bionic man Frank

World’s first bionic man Frank


Remember that robo girl from the hit tele series “Small Wonder”? Well, the concept has finally materialized with the invention of what is now being hailed as the, “World’s first bionic man”, named, Frank, which is a nick, derived from the word ‘Frankenstein’.


Frank is not your day-to-day robot like ASIMO by Sony, etc, but it is, in literal terms, a perfect example of human meeting a machine. It is made up of 28 artificial and several other synthetic organs, which are similar to those found in you and me, including a beating heart! Yes, it’s that real!


World


Built by the engineers at Shadow Robot Co in England, ‘Frank’ is the baby of Dr Bertolt Meyer’s mind, who himself has an embedded bionic arm, and is a professor at the University of Zurich. The artificial organs in this real life technological miracle were contributed by several laboratories from across the globe. On the technical front, Frank has more than 200 processors working for it to facilitate various activities like walking and talking. To give it a more real feel, the engineers have put in more than 1000 sensors beneath the robo’s skin, to ensure that the “touch” and “temperature changes” sensations are felt by it, and accordingly responded to.


Frank is by far the most realistic humanoid that has been made, as it has organs, limbs, eyes, etc just like us. Building this machine burnt a hole of about 1 million dollars in the pocket of investors.


Although we cannot ignore the fact that Frank’s walking speed is quite a competitor to that of a snail’s, but it is surely a huge step in the field of bionics.











World"s first bionic man Frank

BMW i3 2014 Electric Car

 BMW i3 2014 Electric Car


Well, this time, the luxury car maker BMW has gone into the “Eco-friendly” mode, with the 2014 BMW i3.


The makers this time have tried to address the ‘busy roads’ problem. The BMW i3 is an apt city car, most suited to the driving environment and conditions of Asian and European cities.


Exterior:


Unlike other electric cars, the i3 will impress you at the very first glance. The car’s 19-inches, projected, wheels make it look bigger and will surely give you a feel of an MUV from the outside.


Interiors:


The interiors are neat and well designed with BMW’s latest design called LifeDrive architecture, which will impress you instantly. The seats have been raised, so that the passengers are able to look outside with an ease.


New BMW i3 coming 2014- PING


Operation:


The motor is located beneath the Drive module, and is powerful enough to drive you smoothly through the highways, but upon reaching ~80-100kph, its sound becomes quite audible. One-foot driving can be done easily as the brakes are not at all aggressive.


Apart from that, the Li-ion battery of the i3 has a capacity of 18.8kWh, which is rechargeable at 220 volts, and takes about 6-8 hours to reach the 100%-charged point. If you wish to charge the vehicle at home, you can avail the BMW i Wallbox apparatus, and get it installed in your house.


Mileage:


Depending upon the mode you use the i3 in, you can cover from ~140 to 190 kms on a single charge.


Specifications:


Electric motor:  Output: 125kW


Max Torque: 250Nm


Top speed fully electric: 150 km/h


Acceleration 0–100 km/h: 7.2s


Permitted Load: 425kg


Price: ~USD 41000 (U.S. Price)


Launch: November 2013 (Europe launch)



BMW i3 2014 Electric Car

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Top 5 Women in Technology

Top 5 women in Technology


The technology industry is heavily dominated by the male species. However, in the recent years that trend has been changing. And like the males, there are plenty of females standing toe to toe with the males in technology as well. Here are some of the top women in technology.


Sandy Carter-PING


Sandy Carter


Sandy Carmer is the Vice President at IBM. Under her management the company was able to achieve 70% market share. She is primarily responsible for handling the social aspects of the company.


Jane Moran-PING


Jane Moran


Since the year 2008 Jane Moran has been the Global Chief Information Officer for Thomson Reuters. Primarily she oversees the business systems of the Thomson Reuters.


Deborah Estrin-PING


Deborah Estrin


Other than the director of the $40 million Center of Embedded Networked Sensing, Deborah Estrin is also a professor of computer sciences at UCLA. Deborah Estrin is the sister of Judy Estrin. Judy Estrin is also equally competitive and has been one of the most powerful women in business as well!


Sheryl Sandberg-PING


Sheryl Sandberg


You may not know this but Sheryl Sandberg is the Chief Operating Officer at Facebook! She takes care of the social media, sales, marketing, public policy and various other public relations activities.


Susie Wee_PING


Susie Wee


Susie Wee is the Chief Technology and Experience Officer at Collaboration and Communication at Cisco Systems. She is originally from Palo Alto and currently managing over 90+ user experience designers all around the world. Before becoming the Chief she worked for Hewlett Packard.


Who would you recommend adding to this list?



Top 5 Women in Technology