Festo’s Innovative Robotic Dragonfly Touches The Skies

March 31, 2013 By Kiran Yasmin Leave a Comment

Festo name needs no introduction as it is one of the leading electrical automation Technology Company. Festo is not behind in the race of technology development. Recently the mechanical experts of this Germany based company have created an innovative 180 grams robotic dragonfly named as BionicOpter.

In BionicOpter, Festo has input the complex flight properties of a dragonfly with great efforts. The ultra light four wings of this BionicOpter can be controlled independently. It can accelerate forward, backward and even can flight like tiny insects without any hurdle. In addition to the flapping wings of different frequencies and twists, each of the four wings can feature easily as an amplitude controller. To check and balance the direction of the wings a thrust regulator has especially been fitted in the robotic dragonfly. So, there is no hurdle for the robotic dragonfly to touch the skies with great speed and what a wonderful thing that it’s working and functions are completely remote-controlled. Not only this but also it can be controlled with the help of a smart phone (according to the company’ documentation).

The Lightweight Integrated Design & Style

The unique flight concept in the BionicOpter has been made possible due to its light weight and integrated design. Its functionality is exceptional because of the presence of auto-sensors, actuators and other mechanics’ based components. The control systems of the robotic dragonfly’s open and closed-loop are installed in such a way that it even flies through some tight space and narrow areas.

Heinrich Frontzek, the chief of Festo’s Corporate Communication and Future Concepts has clarified in an interview that this unique robotic dragonfly is a good addition in the Festo’s electrical products and for sure it would bring the company name to the heights of success. According to the Canadian Manufacturing report the company has the plan to launch this robotic dragonfly in April at Hannover Messe trade show.

Top 5 Best New Android Apps of March 2013

March 30, 2013 By ishayat Leave a Comment

It’s time for a roundup of the best new Android apps released in this month. Here we are going to post our top 5 Android apps of March but you can also share your favorites in the comments below.

Google Keep

Google is ready to compete against the likes of Evernote with its very own note-taking app, “Google Keep”. Keep is a very simple note-taking app that offers a slick and clean interface but limited features. You can add any type of note, images, voice and text notes. However, you won’t be able to sort, filter them or create different folders for them. A single note can only contain one type of data which is also a negative side of this note taking app.

If you are looking for a simple and fast note-taking app for your Android device, you can check out Google Keep.

Try

Sleep as Android

Sleep as Android offers a combo of sleep cycle tracker and alarm clock to make sure you wake up in your light sleep phase. It’s like Swiss knife tool for your sleep as it comes with sleep cycle detection, smart wake up, time to bed notification, sleep tracking, deep sleep, gentle alarm and lullaby features. This app can track your sleep during night and can find the optimal moment to wake you up when you are in light sleep.

If you want to enjoy natural sleep and wake up like you wake up without alarm clocks, you should definitely try Sleep as Android. After the 14 days trial version, you have to buy the unlocker for $1.99.

Try

Ravensword: Shadowlands

Ravensword: Shadowlands is like Skyrim for smartphones and tablets, a full-fledged 3D RPG game from the makers of Aralon: Sword and Shadow and Ravensword: The Fallen King. It’s the latest Role Playing Game in TegraZone and looks stunning with its high-quality graphics and ragdoll physics. It’s easy to understand how deep the storyline is after playing the first few minutes. You get to explore the Kingdom of Tyreas in this game with tons of mysteries to solve and realistic scenery to explore.

If you are a fan of RPG games and want to enjoy a PC game like RPG game in your smartphone or tablet, you should definitely try Ravensword: Shadowlands for $6.99.

Try

Nightsky

NightSky is a simple yet stunningly attractive 2D physics-based puzzle game that offers perfect touch control and nice sound effects. If you have played the PC version, you are going to find the touch version even more attractive.

You are going to control a ball in the game in dream-like, dark environments with a few options to avoid obstructions in your path. The beautiful worlds presented in this game are broken into different scenes and ambient soundtrack to offer a relaxing gameplay experience. It surely doesn’t offer something unique, but you are going to love this game if you love physics-based games. This game is available for $4.99.

Try

Ringya

Ringya is a great phone book alternative that helps you to create smart mobile “rings” just by snapping pictures of any contact list or digital contact list. It’s really amazing how this app can transform paper contact lists into “Rings” without copying our address book. You can organize your contacts easily, share them or divide them into groups without putting much effort.

Try

What do you think of these apps? Is there any new app you tried in March and want to share it with us? Fee free to drop a comment.

Nexus 7 Follows Eric Schmidt to India! Available for Rs 15,999

March 26, 2013 By Abhishek Prakash 1 Comment

It seems Google Chairman Eric Schmidt’s visit to India is followed by more good news. Google’s flagship 7″ tab, Nexus 7, is now available in India. The product is available in Google Play and can only be ordered online which is very unlike the traditional way of buying retailers in Indian market. But keeping in mind the trend of online shopping in India, especially the urban youth, the ‘online only’ selling should not harm the sales.

The price tag for 16Gb Nexus 7 is Rs 15,999 (excluding shipping charges). Though the product can be ordered starting from today, the website says that it will only be shipped by 5th April. Here is a quick look at the specifications of Google Nexus 7:

Google Nexus 7 Specifications:

Screen

7” 1280×800 (216ppi)
HD IPS

Dimensions

198.5 x 120 x 10.45 mm
340g (WiFi Only), 347g (32GB + Mobile data)

Cameras

1.2MP front-facing camera

Connectivity

Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth
NFC (Android Beam)

Processor and memory

16GB or 32GB internal storage (actual formatted capacity will be less)
1 GB RAM
NVIDIA® Tegra® 3 quad-core processor

Features

Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean)
4,325 mAh battery
Accelerometer
GPS
Gyroscope
Microphone
Magnetometer

Facebook Working On #Hashtags!

March 15, 2013 By Abhishek Prakash Leave a Comment

There was a time when Facebook and Twitter were two separate entities in social media world. Facebook, the personal space to share with friend and family while Twitter was the domain for real-time ‘news’ and discussion along with the opportunity to follow celebrities. As the world rely more and more on mobile devices for internet access, the two social media giants starts rubbing shoulders with each other to get bigger piece of mobile advertisement pie.

The #rumour has it:

According to WSJ, Facebook is now working on a hashtag feature similar to Twitter. People who do not know, hashtag is sort of highlighter in tweets where you can put emphasis on a particular word by placing a ‘#’ before it. This also allows users to use it as a tag to search in real-time for all the tweets containing this hashtag. You can think of these hashtags as a ‘keyword search’.

Google Plus has also incorporated the hashtag feature even since its beginning. Facebook has been avoiding it for long. But the introduction of Graph Search has shown that Facebook has few arrows (even if borrowed from somewhere else) in its quiver. Facebook has announced that it will start including statuses and posts as well in the Graph Search. Keeping that in mind, it is quite viable that Facebook will start including hashtags for keyword specific Graph Search.

What’s the fuss?

It’s all about moolah. By means of hashtags, Twitter provides a real good way to see the tweets in real-time and thus gets advertisers more focused on advertising on current/real-time moments. Also, as hashtags emphasize on certain keywords, it will help in a more accurate targeting for advertising.

Facebook has been copying Twitter features for a long time

It;s not the first time that Facebook has copied something from Twitter. Facebook started copying Twitter’s feature around two years back when it introduced the feature of “subscribe” on the line of ‘follow’ of Twitter. Later Gradually it also introduced the feature of tagging anyone (person or page) in comments and status by using ‘@’ before the name. Twitter users know very well the use of ‘@’ to ‘mention’ (read, tag) anyone in a tweet.

I have felt the need of hashtags for a long time. The news of Facebook hashtags is a welcome sign. Though it won’t be coming any time soon, it still is a positive change. By the way that makes me thinking if hashtags were first used by Apple instead of Twitter, how many lawsuits would have we seen?

5 best tablets under $200

March 12, 2013 By ishayat 2 Comments

Tablets are getting very popular nowadays and are working as an alternative to notebook and laptop for full web browsing experience, watching movies and playing games. It is easy to find good and budget friendly tablets now and here we are going to talk about 5 great tablets that are available for under $200.

Google Nexus 7

Nexus 7 is the perfect $200 7-inch tablet with almost everything you expect to see in your tablet. The tablet comes with Tegra 3 quad-core processor, 1GB of RAM, 16GB or 32GB internal storage, 4,325 mAh battery and Android 4.2 Jelly Bean operating system for buttery smooth performance. This thin, light and portable tablet is good enough for playing all the games available for Android tablets, watching movies and to enjoy full web browsing experience. This great budget tablet supports 8 hours of HD video playback, 10 hours of web browsing or e-reading and 300 hours standby time. If you are interested to buy the 3G version, you have to pay an extra $99.

Amazon Kindle Fire HD

is another 7-inch budget friendly tablet that comes with attractive HD display, Dolby audio with dual-driver stereo speakers and ultra-fast Wi-Fi. The second generation of Amazon’s Kindle Fire offers 7-inch HD LCD display, Dual-core 1.2GHz OMAP 4460 processor, optional 16 GB or 32GB storage on device and battery offers 11 hours of continuous use.

It’s great for watching movies, reading and surfing the web. However, if you want to enjoy big games like The Bard’s Tale and Shadowgun THD smoothly in your Android tablet, you should go for a Tegra 3 tablet.

Barnes & Noble Nook HD

Nook HD is a good $200 from Barnes & Noble that offers brilliant HD display and extra-long battery life that supports up to 10.5 hours of reading and up to 9 hours of video. The 7-inch screen supports HD 1440×900 display which is bigger than Kindle Fire HD, 1.3Ghz dual-core processor (more powerful than Kindle Fire HD), Wi-Fi, 4,050 mAh Li-on battery and optional 8GB storage. However, it’s a tablet under $200 that supports expanding storage using Micro SD card slot.

This budget friendly tablet runs Android Ice Cream Sandwich but it’s heavily customized. Moreover, you won’t find any Google apps inside the tablet and it struggles when playing heavy games or apps. Nook HD is not the best tablet available under $200 but you are going to love it if you love Barnes & Noble products.

Acer Iconia Tab A100

Acer Iconia Tab A100 is an old 7-inch tablet that offers HDMI-out and expandable memory option like Nook HD. This tablet offers a full Android Ice Cream Sandwich experience and also features NVidia Tegra 2 processor, 1GB of RAM, 5-megapixel camera and Wi-Fi. The tablet comes with Honeycomb out-of-the-box but is upgradable to Ice Cream Sandwich.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0

If you are a Samsung fan, you can try the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0. The tablet offers a nice Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich experience, dual cameras, PLS LCD capacitive touchscreen, Dual-core 1GHz processor and Jelly Bean operating system. It’s better than the Kindle Fire HD if you want the extra features like microphone, Bluetooth and expandable storage. It was available for $250 earlier but now it’s available for $200 in some places.

How To Get The New Facebook News Feed

March 8, 2013 By Abhishek Prakash Leave a Comment

Facebook has changed the look of its news feed (your Facebook home page) again. And we’ll see how to get the new Facebook news feed. But first lets talk about the changes. It is one of the major changes in Facebook after the Graph Search. The motto behind the new redesign of news feed is to make it less clutter and more organized with more relevant content.

At first look, the new look in the mobile version is clearly inspired by (hold your breath) Google Plus. Facebook has copied several features of Google Plus ever since Google Plus is released. Privacy policy, circles, tagging are few to name. But it is also true on the other way round. Google Plus too has taken inspirations from Facebook.

Not going in to the game of who-copied-from-whom, lets see what are the features of new Facebook News Feed:

Bigger photos
Quick access to all of the feeds
A unified look across the web and mobile
Less cluttered, more organized

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How to get the new Facebook news feed:

As of now the new Facebook news feed is available to a few people only and it is still in beta mode. But you can always request an invite. Go to https:// and scroll down to the bottom. Look for the “Join Waiting List” button and click on it to get the beta invite.

To get the invite earlier, change the default Facebook language to English US. The same trick work in case if you are looking for how to get Facebook Graph Search. How do you like the new Facebook news feed? Do share it with us.

Windows Blue To Succeed Windows 8!

March 4, 2013 By Abhishek Prakash 2 Comments

It’s not even a year since Windows 8 has been released and rumours are doing the round that its successor codenamed ‘Windows Blue’ might be shipped by the middle of this year. This indeed is weird keeping in mind that Microsoft has termed Windows 8 a ‘success’ despite many people switching back to Windows 7 (not sure if someone went back to Vista).

Where did it start?

The report was first leaked with a official Microsoft job announcement (link removed from the site now) that sighted an experience engineer. The job description read as:

Windows Blue promises to build and improve upon these aspects of the OS, enhancing ease of use and the overall user experience on devices and PCs worldwide.

Microsoft declined to comment on it and thus neither denied it nor accepted it.

Is it really a new OS?

As reported by Win8China the new Windows Blue is a major update to Windows 8 rather than a full fledged system. In other words, it could be termed as Service Pack to Windows 8. But no confirmation has come to whether the Windows 8 will renamed to Windows Blue after wards or not. As speculation goes, it should be free for current Windows 8 users.

Features of Windows Blue:

Windows Blue is supposed to have the following features to provide improvements on Windows 8:

A better search for online contents such as Windows app, fully integrated with Bing (gauche! Kill me please).
Built on new Kernel
Equipped with Internet Explorer 11 (like I’m gonna use it)
Will support smaller (6-8 inches) touch devices. This could be for Surface Mini.
Will be faster and consume less power (I don’t trust it)
Better integration of apps to Windows environment

I sincerely hope Windows Blue to be an improvement on Windows 8 rather than reminding us of Blue from the notorious Blue Screen Of Death. The news about Windows Blue has at least proved one thing, Windows OS are good in alternate version only. Don’t believe me? Take a look at the curios case of Windows OS (Courtesy: 9Gag):

Month Recap: Gadgets Launched In February

March 1, 2013 By ishayat Leave a Comment

Before we start looking at the next month’s big tech events, let’s take a look at this month’s big and popular tech news. It was certainly a big month for us tech geeks as we saw some great gadgets like Galaxy Note 8, Asus FonePad, HTC One and PlayStation 4.

PS4 Unveiled

Sony officially unveiled the PlayStation 4 this month at its NYC event after months of rumors. The company announced the hardware specs of the next generation PlayStation and also showed the DualShock Controller 4 with some amazing features. The new PS4 comes with an 8-core 64-bit x86 AMD CPU, 8GB GDDR5 RAM, enhanced Radeon GPU and 6x Blu-ray drive.

We don’t have any specific release date yet but you can expect to get the PS4 in the Holidays 2013.

Galaxy Note 8

Samsung has unveiled the Galaxy Note 8 at the 2013 Mobile World Congress after lots of rumors and leaked pictures. It’s a tablet version of the company’s successful Note and Note II and is ready to compete with iPad Mini with its 8-inch display. The company didn’t reveal the tablet’s specs yet but it features 8-inch 1280×800 screen, 2GB RAM, 5MP rear camera and 1.3MP front camera. Another notable feature of this device is its S-Pen like other Note devices.

The company is yet to announce its availability and pricing details but you can expect to see an initial Q2 release in Asia and Europe only.

iPhone 5 leaked

A Chinese website has posted some leaked photos of the rumored iPhone 5S recently and they believe it’s a pre-production version of the next iPhone. Apple failed to protect it’s secret last time before the announcement of iPhone 5 so there is a fifty-fifty chance that these rumors are true. According to the rumors, we can expect to see the same taller screen, an improved camera with powerful LED flash, fingerprint sensor, full-HD display and color options like the latest iPod Touch.

Apple refused to comment on these rumors as usual so we have to wait for an official announcement to confirm these rumors.

Asus FonePad

Asus announced FonePad, a Nexus 7 like tablet with 3G mobile data and voice-calling feature at the Mobile World Congress this month. The new device looks like a combo of Asus’ docking PadFone mobile and the popular Nexus 7.

The FonePad features 7-inch IPS screen with 1280×800 display, Android 4.1 OS, Intel Atom Z2420 processor, 1GB of RAM, optional 8GB or 16GB internal memory, 3-megapixel rear camera, 1.2 megapixel front camera, voice calling feature and full 3G telephony support. The company is planning to release the FonePad between April and June in the U.K. and in Asia at the end of the June for $249.

HTC One

HTC recently unveiled the HTC One at an event earlier this month and called the new flagship smartphone a “game-changer” because of its “innovative features”. The company usually releases several phones using the same name but they decided to drop X or S from this device. The Taipei City-based company also decided to make this device their sole flagship smartphone for this year.

The HTC One features a 4.7-inch full 1080p HD Display with 468ppi, 1.7GHz quad-core Qualcomm processor, 2GB of RAM, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean OS and a 2,300mAh battery. The flagship device will be available on Sprint, T-Mobile and AT&T in the US next month and is now available for pre-order.

Chromebook Pixel

Google unveiled its premium notebook, at a San Francisco press event this month. The Chromebook features a 12.85’’ inch screen with 2560×1700 resolution and it’s also a touchscreen which is introduced in a Chromebook for the first time.

The Chromebook also features a 1.8GHz Dual –core Intel i5 processor, integrated HD 4000 graphics, 4GB of RAM and Chrome OS. But it’s not these features that attracted tech geeks, it’s the price, $1299 for the 32GB of flash storage and Wi-Fi version and $1449 for Wi-Fi, LTE broadband and 64GB of storage. It’s too much for a Chrome OS based device which is only good for using web-based apps and internet browsing.

ZTE Grand Memo

ZTE has announced the Grand Memo, a phablet with 5.7-inch screen at its MWC 2013 event this month. The flagship device features a big 5.7-inch screen with 720p resolution, 13-megapixel camera, 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor, customized Android 4.1.2 and 3200mAh battery.

Looks like ZTE is trying to push the boundaries of phablet and is trying to grab some attention in the phablet arena. The smartphone will be launched in China soon and then in Europe.

Sony Officially Unveils The PS4 Specs: x86 AMD CPU, Enhanced Gaming GPU

February 22, 2013 By ishayat 3 Comments

Sony didn’t unveil the actual console at Sony’s two-hour long press event yesterday but we do know what we can expect inside it. The company revealed the hardware specs of the PlayStation 4 and also showed the new DualShock Controller saying that we can expect to see the PS4 in market in the 2013 holiday season.

PS4 Specs

The hardware specs of the PlayStation 4 includes an 8-core 64-bit x86 AMD CPU titled as “Jaguar”, 8GB GDDR5 RAM, 6x Blu-ray drive and an enhanced Radeon GPU that promises to give gamers “the kind of multi-dimensional experiences they expect and observe.” It will also feature 802.11n Wi-Fi, HDMI, USB 3.0, Bluetooth 2.1 and an analog AV out.

“PlayStation 4 will unleash imaginations to create next-gen experiences that surpass gamers’ wildest expectations, while also allowing developers to explore other business models,” that’s what Andrew House, the president and group CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment said at the launch event.

If you wonder what kind of graphics this machine can run, take a look at this video:

DualShock 4

The new PS4 will also come with a nicely revamped controller that features a touchpad, headphone jack, share button and a lightbar for identification of players. Mark Cerny, PS4’s architect believes the new DualShock Controller 4 now comes with an improved joystick and trigger button that can provide “much tighter sense of control over in-game actions.” There is also a stereo camera that can sense the depth of visible objects.

New PS4 Interface

Sony also unveiled a new interface and introduced PlayStation app for iOS and Android. The new interface will try to keep you “seamlessly interconnected” with social life and all your PS4 conversations will be carried “far beyond the living room,” using different apps and web platforms. Cerny said that the new interface is designed to “keep in touch with the evolving world of your game regardless of your location”. He also discussed about using real names on the new interface. Users will be able to use aliases when they want anonymity but most of the interactions in this new console will be done using profile pictures and real names.

Upcoming Games for the PS4

Sony announced some upcoming games for the PS4 including InFAMOUS: Second Son from Sucker Punch, Killzone: Shadow Fall from Guerrilla Games and Deep Down from Capcom. The developers behind the Braid puzzle game also showed The Witness at the event and Square Enix is also thinking about bringing a PS4 compatible Final Fantasy game soon. Meanwhile you can see the demo of the gameplay in this video:

The company didn’t unveil any specific release date in the event but they announced at the end of the event that the PS4 will be available in the Holidays 2013.

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