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Apple Watch Can Redefine The Smartwatch Concept

January 7, 2015 By Deborah Cobing Leave a Comment

This week’s CES (Consumer Electronics Show) 2015 in Las Vegas could be the beginning for another mobile-marketing path. Apple’s smartwatch has been confirmed for a release in 2015. Advertisers want to seize this opportunity.

From the third quarter of 2014 Samsung was at the top of wearables market. FitBit occupied the second place with its group of fitness trackers. Jawbone was the third in a row in what seemed to be a well-established market. Apple Watch could seriously shake the market’s hierarchy thanks to its numerous advantages.
According to Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple Inc., this product is all about fitness tracking and health. On top of that, it’s the first one Cook himself guided through the entire process up to retail.

An interesting piece of information is that Apple ensured through a deal with Quantra (a Taiwanese company which manufactures and assemblies smartwatches) that will not produce this kind of product for Apple’s rivals anymore.
Sources say that employees from Apple Retail Store will be subjected to a testing program in order to get familiarized with the new product. The device, being the first generation of its kind, will aim to control the market just like iPhone did in 2007. Having its watch-based utilization in mind, the operating system on Apple’s Watch is said to have a specific design and includes interesting features. Positioning information will be available through handset’s GPS. It can even offer on its display notifications thanks to the connection to iPhone. The voice control with Siri that will be supported is a better alternative than trying to type on a small display. health information that are personalized to the user will also be integrated.

Trying to use this new gadget’s capabilities, advertisers like TapSense want to launch an ad-buying service for Apple Watch. Ash Kumar, the chief executive of TapSense, said that businesses could make use of the apps to let customers know about special deals. This will happen only within already-opened apps to avoid annoying consumers with information or deals that do not relate to the action they do in that moment.

The release date is set to 2015 and the product is expected to be launched in late March with a price tag from $349 in US.
Image Source: Apple Inc.

Canned Food Might Cause High Blood Pressure

December 9, 2014 By Jack M. Robinson Leave a Comment

Canned food might cause high blood pressure and heart issues, argues a small study conducted by doctors at Seoul National University College of Medicine.

In the quick pacing world, numerous individuals have no time to strive for something crisp, prompting simple picks like canned nourishment and beverages. But it looks like this might damage our health more than we imagine.

Dr. Yun-Chul Hong, senior specialist of this study came to the conclusion that two carbonated drinks per day expand systolic circulatory pressure by 5mm/Hg, that could be really troublesome in patients with heart afflictions and hypertension. Also an increased consumption of these beverages can bring about 20 mm/Hg expansion, conducive of higher estrogen levels in the body, bringing about higher danger of cardiovascular afflictions.

BPA is an ordinary chemical substance that comes with plastic bottles or the inside of food cans. Authors of the study say exposure to BPA can be found in about 95% of the persons living in U.S.

After the result of the study Dr. Hong advises consumers to try and buy fresh foods or glass packaged foods instead of those canned. He likewise hopes producers will take his study seriously an try to create and distribute sound substituents of BPA for the for internal coating of the can containers.

Dr. Hong and his study partners at Seoul National University College of Medicine in South Korea have directed a comparative research on 60 subjects over the age of 60 three times each month.

Some of the subjects drank soy milk from cans and others from glass containers. The results confirmed higher systolic circulatory pressure in the individuals who drank from the cans when contrasted with the ones who drank from the containers with zero BPA levels. According to Hong, it is more secure to strive for fresh nourishments.

However, Dr. George Thomas specialized in blood pressure and kidneys and working at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio said 5mm/Hg is a too small amount of BPA and could not have a considerable impact on common individuals that might lead to heart conditions or even death. The doctor was not part of the research but suggested that fallow-up trials should be conducted in order to establish the long-term effects of the intake this small amounts of BPA.

Researcher mentioned that they are aware of the necessity of a longitudinal study performed on more subjects in order to determine the exact impact of BPA exposure on cardiovascular diseases.

In a previous issue of Medical News Today a different study advocated that there is a connection between decreased lung function in children and prenatal contact with BPA.

Samsung Wants To Get Away Without Paying Apple 930 Million Dollars

December 5, 2014 By Deborah Cobing Leave a Comment

Samsung wants to get away without paying Apple 930 million dollars in the tech giants’ most recent clash. The US Appeals Court is receiving a request this week to dismiss the sentence compelling the organization to pay Apple the given sum for violating its cell phone licenses.

Apple’s attorney, William Lee, kept on advocating for the $930 million fine, saying it was the right choice. So far, there are no clues as to how the three judges will reach a verdict.

In the most recent hearing in a progressing case, Samsung’s lawyer Kathleen Sullivan contended that the cash Apple was entitled to “was absurd.” She told a three-judge board that the South Korean tech company’s Galaxy gadgets couldn’t have replicated Cupertino’s configuration or exchanged dress licenses. She explained that they don’t convey the Apple logo or have an iPhone-like “home” tab. As Reuters noted, Sullivan contended that the telephones’ speaker slots are additionally situated in a dissimilar position.

The fight started in 2011, when Apple blamed its greatest rival for replicating the configuration of its iPhone and iPad gadgets. In the years since, the case stretched to various courts around the globe, including South Korea, Japan, Australia, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Italy, and the United Kingdom.

Since the international lawsuits have all ended, the tech companies are only battling in U.S. courts.

In August 2012, a California jury recompensed Apple $1.05 billion, which was later decreased to $930 million — court order that Samsung is even now battling against.

Cupertino then won $120 million in a second patent impingement trial against Samsung, but was found guilty of infringing on one of its contender’s licenses.

A couple of months prior, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office ventured into the ring, dismissing one of Apple’s encroachment cases connected with the “autocomplete” feature. Samsung declined to make any remark on the issue; Apple did not react to Pcmag’s solicitation.

Apple and Samsung have been engaging one another in courts for the past a few years but recently consented to stop suing one another for patent violations outside the U.S. Nevertheless, this last news from the hearing at U.S. Appeal Court demonstrate that there’s still a quite lot of hatred between the two

Concerning the $930 million, Samsung has added motivation to attempt and get it rejected or immensely diminished. The organization’s Galaxy line smartphones sales are not really up and running, prompting lower incomes and some administrative changes.

Not long ago, Apple arrived at an arrangement with Google’s Motorola that finished their patent battle.

Regin, the Most Sophisticated Computer Bug Ever Discovered

November 24, 2014 By Jack M. Robinson Leave a Comment

One of the leading computer companies claims to have discovered the most sophisticated malicious software in computer history. Symantec named the computer bug Regin and believes it was probably created by a government. The computer company also thinks that the Regin virus may have been around for six years, attacking computers worldwide.

Once the Regin virus gets into a computer, it can do steal passwords, capture screenshots or even recover deleted files. The computer experts say that the Regin bug has attacked computers from Ireland, Russia and Saudi Arabia. The experts believe these countries have been hit the most by the computer bug. They say the virus was created mostly for spying on governmental organizations, private individuals and businesses.

Because the virus is so sophisticated, the scientists believe it was developed by a nation state, trying to make some kind of cyber espionage tool to keep an eye on others. They also said it probably took many months, even years, to build this kind of computer bug. Also, the computer experts believe the creators of the bug have done their best to cover their tracks.

One of the security strategist people at Symantec said about the Regin computer bug that:

“It looks like it comes from a Western organization. It’s the level of skill and expertise, the length of time over which it was developed.”

Symantec said that the recently discovered Regin bug resembles the Stuxnet computer virus, which was thought to have been created by the United States and Israel in order to hack into Iran’s nuclear program. The purpose of the Stuxnet virus was to damage computers, while Regin’s is to collect information.
Another security company, F-Secure stated that it first encountered the Regin virus in 2009, investigating the reason behind their customers’ computer crashes.

Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer at F-Secure said:

“Finding malware of this calibre is very rare. We’re still missing big parts of the puzzle. Nevertheless, it’s obvious this is a very complicated malware written by a well-equipped nation-state.”

Symantec said that they first found the Regin virus in a small organizations between the years 2008 and 2011.

Samsung Milk Video Is the Latest Video App

November 19, 2014 By Deborah Cobing Leave a Comment

It looks like Samsung has been trying a lot of areas lately, and its latest app is called Milk Video, a new social video app that was launched today.
Samsung Milk Video app can be used on Galaxy devices and it comes as a follow-up to the latest Internet radio service launched by Samsung called Milk Music. Samsung said that with the Milk Video app, the company wants its users to discover the latest and the coolest videos on the internet, while using the Samsung devices like the Galaxy smartphones and tablets.

Samsung vice president in charge of content and services, Kevin Swint said of the new Milk Video service that:

“Discovery happens in very haphazard and random way. This experience leaves a lot of people feeling like they’re always the last one to see the video that everybody is talking about. We thought we could solve that.”

The videos you can find on the Milk Video app are curated by people from Samsung whose job is to find viral videos from all categories, including entertainment and sport, and show them to the Samsung user. The videos are selected from various popular sources like YouTube, and Samsung said that they have partnered with other video sources like Buzfeed, Vice, Funny or Die and College Humor, to provide content for the Milk Video app.

Samsung said that some of the video sources like Red Bull Studios and Funny or Die will also make special videos exclusively for the new Samsung video app.
Through these partnerships and exclusive videos, Samsung hopes that the new Milk Video app will be different than other available video streaming apps. Samsung also said that Milk Video will have no ads.

The Milk Video app allows users to share the videos and user can follow each other in order to see the most popular videos trending among their friends.
For now, the Milk Video app only supports a Facbook login, but Samsung said that the users will be able to log in with a Samsung account in the near future.
Milk Video is a free app, just like Milk Music, but it’s only available for users of Samsung Galxy smarpthones.

Dead Woman’s Body Tested For Ebola Because of Recent Guinea Trip

November 19, 2014 By Georgia Dawson Leave a Comment

According to city officials, the body of a woman who died of an apparent heart attack in Brooklyn Tuesday will be tested for the Ebola virus as a precaution, since she was recently in the West African country of Guinea. The woman was not showing any symptoms of the disease at the time of death.

The woman had recently traveled to Guinea, one of the three main Ebola-affected countries along with Liberia and Sierra Leone and was one of the roughly 350 people that the city is monitoring for symptoms. The woman, whose identity was not immediately released, returned from West Africa 18 days ago.

The ambulance crew and engine company who responded to this scene will now have to self-monitor. It’s not clear if they will officially join the city’s watch list.

The 40-year-old woman was sitting in a chair at Amy’s Professional African Hair Braiding in the Brownsville section of New York having her hair done when she dropped dead in her salon chair at 2:30 p.m. She was pronounced dead at the scene from a heart attack.

[quote]“Before death, this individual showed no symptoms of Ebola,”[/quote]

the agency said in a statement Tuesday night.

[quote]“However due to travel history within the 21 day incubation period and an abundance of caution, an Ebola test will be performed on this individual’s remains.”[/quote]

[quote]”Earlier today, an individual who came to the US 18 days ago from one of the West African countries with ongoing Ebola transmission died suddenly of an apparent heart attack. Before death, this individual showed no symptoms of Ebola. However due to travel history within the 21 day incubation period and an abundance of caution, an Ebola test will be performed on this individual’s remains. Test results are expected early tomorrow morning,”[/quote]

The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene said in a statement.

They shut down the hair salon and took a number of other precautions. The remains of the woman, whose name has not been released, were taken away. Test results are expected back Wednesday.

[quote]”We were in the building and all the sudden the other owner came from the store and he said somebody dropped dead in their store. He then ran where the scene was and found her lying on the floor,”[/quote]

a man who works in the building next door who goes by the name of Costa said. When he was asked what the woman was bleeding from, he said:

[quote]”Face, nose, mouth, everything.”[/quote]

Samsung-Nvidia Lawsuit Continues: Samsung Sues Back

November 12, 2014 By Deborah Cobing Leave a Comment

Remember when Nvidia accused the South Korean tech giant Samsung and Qualcomm of patent infringement related to its GPU technology? This happened back in September and started the Samsung-Nvidia lawsuit that has been going on ever since. Now it’s Samsung’s turn to strike back so it accuses Nvidia of infringing its patents.

Samsung filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, the Alexandria division. The Samsung-Nvidia continues with Samsung accusing Nvidia of infringing six of Samsung’s original patents. Velocity Micro, which is Nvidia’s customer is charged with eight infringement patents by Samsung.
Samsung says that the patents infringed by Nvidia include chip design patents and other technologies like a system that reduced booting time in a computer.

Samsung also accuses Nvidia of false advertising for claiming their Shield tablet features the fastest mobile processor in the world, called Tegra K1. Samsung claims that this statement is not true because its own Exynos 5433 processor is faster. Also, Samsung said that even Apple’s A8X processor is faster than Nvidia’s.

The Samsung-Nividia lawsuit started in September when Nividia filed a complaint against Samsung, accusing that the South Korean tech company and Qualcomm stole seven of its original patents related to GPU technology. Nividia asked the ITC to block any shipments of Samsung’s Galaxy smartphones and tablets that run on Qualcomm Adreno processor, the ARM Mali or the PowerVR graphics architectures by Imagination.

Nvidia stated in a blog post that after suing Samsung, it expected to be sued back because that is the normal tactic in these cases. Nvidia also said that it hasn’t yet responded to Samsung’s latest accusations but still claims that their processor is better than the ones on the Galaxy Note 4.

In the latest Samsung-Nvidia lawsuit, Samsung said that:

“We are pursuing necessary legal measures to defend our intellectual property rights and to ensure our continued growth in the IT industry.”

In response, Nvidia stated that:

“We’ll review and respond to these new claims against us, and look forward to presenting our case on how Nvidia GPU patents are being used without a license.”

Interstellar Movie Experience: Better Than Any Physics Lesson

November 8, 2014 By Jack M. Robinson 1 Comment

Christopher Nolan’s science fiction film Interstellar was released on Friday. But the interesting thing is that the movie is reportedly based on real scientific data. According to recent reports, the special effects artists have designed the effects with the help of physicist Kip Thorne, an expert on black holes and wormholes.

The spaceship Endurance is heading towards Gargantua, the fictional supermassive black hole with a mass 100 million times that of the Sun. Gargantua rotates at an astounding 99.8 percent of the speed of light and lies 10 billion light-years from Earth and is orbited by several planets. Accretion disc of the black hole has dust and gas with the temperature equal to surface of the sun. Gargantua’s planets obtain light and heat from the disc.

In 2006, Thorne and Lynda Obst, a longtime friend and film producer, wrote an eight-page teaser for a film that was inspired from the astrophysics of black holes, wormholes, and time dilation. Steven Spielberg was soon on board to direct. Jonathan Nolan, who wrote films such as The Prestigeand The Dark Knight Rises with his director brother Christopher, was working on the screenplay. Six years later, however, Spielberg dropped out and was replaced by Christopher Nolan, director of the three Dark Knight movies and Inception.

What can’t be disputed about Interstellar is that it brings up heavy subjects that are normally only bandied about in classrooms, or on PBS: wormholes, the theory of relativity, gravitational anomalies, ecological Armageddon and how far a truck can drive on a flat tire. It also features Einstein’s equations that state time passes slower in higher gravity fields. So, in a planet that orbits close to a black hole, a clock ticks much slower than on a spaceship orbiting farther away.

Earth’s three-dimensional universe is considered as a flat membrane floating in a four-dimensional void called the Bulk. The presence of mass in the universe changes the flat membrane. The story of the film showed that enough mass at a point could lead to a singularity. Planets or other objects that try to approach the singularity go through an event horizon from which it is not possible for them to return. If two singularities somehow emerge, a wormhole tunnel can be formed. The film has shown a wormhole, which is about 1.24 miles in diameter and 10 billion light-years from earth.

The National Academy of Sciences wants to develop full cooperation between scientists and the entertainment industry to find ways to bring accurate science and technological knowledge to the public.

Fossilized Tracks Trio Found in Angola Diamond Mine

November 7, 2014 By Georgia Dawson 1 Comment

A large, long-necked dinosaur along with a raccoon-size mammal and a crocodile like creature were supposedly heading towards a freshwater lake during the Early Cretaceousperiod 118 million years ago, thus leaving their footprints behind in a sedimentary band of earth. The ancient track marks were discovered at Angola’s Catoca diamond mine, the fourth-largest diamond mine in the world.

The mammalian tracks are a particularly rare find, as most warm-blooded animals at that time were no larger than rats, and this one appears to be larger, researchers said. Nearly 70 distinct tracks were recovered in the Catoca mine in Angola. All the tracks were found in a small sedimentary basin, formed about 118 Ma, during the Early Cretaceous, in the crater of a kimberlite pipe.
The mammal has five distinctive digits, with a long middle digit and a thumb that goes off to the side. The prints, which are 1 inch by 3.7 inches, on average, suggest that the animal was about the size of a modern-day raccoon.

Paleontologist Marco Marzola, a member of the PaleoAngola Project, says that most mammals didn’t begin to evolve to larger sizes until after the primacy of the dinosaurs came to an end. Until then, the majority of mammals were comparable in size to mice or squirrels at their largest, Marzola added.

The animal tracks were first discovered in 2010, when a total of 69 distinct tracks were unearthed, with an additional 18 sauropod tracks also uncovered – one of which had skin impressions still embedded in the fossilized stone. Both the owners of the diamond mine and PaleoAngola stepped in to help preserve the discovery. This is especially worth mentioning because the mining company dismissed the prospect of gaining additional income from excavating in the mine in order to preserve the scientific discovery.

These dinosaur tracks are likely from a sauropod, scientists say. Sauropods had long necks and were the largest terrestrial animals ever alive on Earth, according to the fossil record. Researchers stated that the tracks represent the first evidence of vertebrate animals from the Cretaceous inhabiting inland Angola. Ripple marks in the stone nearby the fossilized tracks led scientists to posit that the region was once a shallow lake that no longer exists nowadays.

LG Signed Long-Term Cross-Licence Deal With Google

November 5, 2014 By Georgia Dawson Leave a Comment

As the South Korean firm LG Electronics tries to expand its smartphone business, it reportedly signed a long-term cross-licence deal with Google. Samsung, LG’s home rival and the world’s top smartphone maker, earlier struck a similar deal with Google in January.

The contract includes copyrights of a wide range of technologies and products. It is one of the biggest patent agreements of the year between the two tech companies. The search giant out of Mountain View, California and the South Korean Electronics company will be sharing each others current patents with one another as well as those that come out of the following ten years.

Allen Lo, deputy general counsel for patents at Google, said, “by working together on cross-licenses like this, companies can focus on bringing great products and services to consumers around the world.”

In a follow up statement, Lo mentions that creating such a cross-licensing deal will allow both companies to focus on bringing great products and services to people around the globe, and that sounds like nothing short of the most honest truth we’ve ever come across. Google and LG already have a great working relationship, at least it would appear, as LG has been behind two of the past generation Nexus devices with the Nexus 4 and last year’s Nexus 5.

It is predicted that both Google and LG want to lay groundwork for having a stronger foothold in the world of Android. Google may be looking to keep LG on a short leash when it comes to the way they want their OS to appear on devices, while LG may find that a cross-licensing deal could help them continue to excel as one of the leading Android OEMs.

Executive Vice President and Head of LG Electronics’ Intellectual Property Center JH Lee joined Google in praising the partnership, saying it would build on a long-standing alliance between the two companies.

“LG values its relationship with Google, and this agreement underscores both companies’ commitment to developing new products and technologies that enhance consumers’ lives,” he said.

This latest deal is a significant win for LG, not just in terms of strengthening ties with the company behind its mobile OS, but also as a sign of strength in the ever-present market battle with its Korean compatriot.

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