Page 48 - Technology Internet

Novel sensor can detect spoilt milk

Scientists have developed a sensor that can 'smell' if milk has gone bad, an advance that could make expiration dates on cartons a thing of the past. The sensor consists of chemically coated nanoparticles that react to the gas produced by milk and the bacterial growth that indicates spoilage, said Shyam Sablani, professor at Washington State University in the US. The sensor does not touch the milk directly. "If it's going bad, most food produces a volatile compound that doesn't smell good. That comes from bacterial growth in the food, most of the time. But you can't smell that until you open the container," Sablani said in a statement. The sensor detects these volatile gases and changes colour, according to the study published in the journal Food Control. The next step for the team is developing a way to visually show how long a product has before it spoils. Currently the sensor only shows if milk is ok or spoiled. Though still early, Sablani envisions working with the food industry ..

Facebook updates video ranking system

In a bid to help original content and creators build profitable video businesses on Facebook and lead viewers to better content, the social networking giant has announced a series of updates to its existing video ranking system.

Twitter now lets you re-tweet with GIFS, images

Micro-blogging site Twitter has rolled a new feature that allows its 326 million users to add images, videos and GIFs to their re-tweets.

Microsoft unveils software for secure, verifiable voting

In a bid to help countries ensure secure and verifiable voting, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has announced "ElectionGuard" -- a free open-source software development kit (SDK).

Facebook removes 118 fake Russian accounts

Facebook has removed 118 accounts, Pages and Groups involved in coordinated inauthentic behaviour on its platform, as well as on Instagram, as part of a network emanating from Russia that focused on Ukraine and several other countries.

Armsprime Media launches Sherlyn Chopra's app

Armsprime Media, a new age technology company that helps celebrity and influencers build and monetise their own customised apps, has recently launched Sherlyn Chopra's app.The app comes with multiple unique features to increase fan engagement and to share exclusive content with fans. The company already has 10 celebrities signed generating revenue of over USD 100k USD a month. Saurabh Kushwah is the founder of Armsprime Media he recently received his first round of funding from entrepreneur investor Raj Kundra."Our focus is to give power to the celebrities and social media influencers to create their own content and pricing structures for a Video on Demand and fan engagement Service like no other. We are proud to announce Sherlyn Chopra's app, which has had over 100,000 registrations in 24 hours of release and her fans are loving her app. Our Company is growing strength to strength and we have over 10 celebrities from India signed up and now we are closing deals for social media ...

This Roomba screams when it bumps into stuff

When you hit your pinky toe while walking around the house, screams and swear words come naturally. A YouTuber has successfully built that capability into a Roomba so you can call it your friend.YouTuber Michael Reeves explains in his video how he modified a house cleaning Roomba to make it scream or swear whenever it bumps into stuff. Reeves added touch sensors which detect collisions and play sound from the Bluetooth speaker.Given that a Roomba's job is to reach difficult places to clean, obviously, the screams are aplenty which is fun for those who know, and plain scary for the visitors.

85.61 per cent votes cast in repolling in 7 booths in Assam

An estimated 85.61 per cent voting was cast in repolling across seven booths in Kokrajhar and Dhubri Lok Sabha constituencies of Assam on Monday, election officials said. Repolling was conducted in two polling stations in Dhubri and five in Kokrajhar. An Election Commission official said that an average of 85.61 per cent voting took place till 5 pm across the seven booths. While the two booths in Dhubri recorded around 85 per cent polling, it was 85.85 per cent in the five stations across Kokrajhar. Assam had a three-phase polling for 14 Lok Sabha seats with a total average voting of 81.52 per cent.

Microsoft Solitaire features in World Video Game Hall of Fame

The old classic Microsoft Solitaire has been inducted into World Video Game Hall of Fame, owing to its influence, longevity, geographical reach, and icon status.As stated in the official release, Microsoft Solitaire was included in the Windows 3.0 OS as a Klondike variation of the original Solitaire to help new users adapt to a new computer device - the mouse.Soon enough, Microsoft Solitaire became a part of every individual born in the 90s. The game has likely been installed on more than a billion computers.

Greenlight Planet's solar fans to keep rural India cool this summer

Greenlight Planet, an organization that designs, distributes and finances solar home energy products has recently launched the Sun King Fan, a portable solar-powered fan.While the country braces for the hottest year since 1901, this model provides powerful airflow for grid-like cooling, striking the perfect balance between performance, durability, and affordability.For ten years, Greenlight Planet has been focused on developing affordable and durable solar powered lighting solutions for under-electrified households and businesses around the world. In that time period, the company's Sun King product range has expanded, from simple task lighting, to keep up with changing consumer needs."Our products have evolved from simple lighting to more sophisticated appliances. Responding to our consumers' increasing dependency on mobile phones and desire for entertainment options, we incorporated mobile charging in our products and developed a solar-powered radio. The solar-powered Sun King Fan ...

Change in digital service design could reduce carbon footprint of digital services

New research has revealed that the carbon footprint of services like YouTube could be reduced by merely changing the design of digital technologies.The study was presented at the 2019 ACM CHI conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems."Digital services are an everyday part of our lives. But they require significant energy to deliver globally - not only in data centres but also in networks, mobile networks and end devices - and so overall can have a big carbon footprint," said lead researcher Chris Preist.Human-Computer Interaction researchers looked at how much electric energy was used to provide YouTube videos to people globally in 2016, to enable them to estimate the service's carbon footprint in that year.Their analysis showed it was around 10Mt CO2e (Million Metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent) - approximately that of a city the size of Glasgow.These carbon emissions result from servers and networking devices streaming about 1bn hours of YouTube video to user devices ...

Google's AI Assistant aims to transcend the smart speaker

Google Assistant has made for a name for itself in a voice technology market once dominated by Amazon and Apple. Google is expected to announce updates to its voice assistant and smart home products Tuesday at its annual developers conference in Mountain View, California. Google Assistant still comes second behind Amazon in the smart speaker race. But the company launched its product nearly two years after Amazon released Echo and has gained considerable ground on its rival. Google has expanded Assistant to more than 1 billion devices. It released a feature earlier this year that allows Assistant to call and make restaurant reservations for you, a technology that is a first of its kind in the market. Google I/O kicks off Tuesday morning.

Tata Motors JLR tests earn-as-you-drive smart cars

Tata Motors-owned Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) is testing new "Smart Wallet" technology, which would enable future drivers of the luxury cars earn cryptocurrency and make driving related payments on the move. The UK's largest car manufacturer said the "earn-as-you-drive" tests would mean future owners of its models earn credits by enabling their cars to automatically report useful road condition data, such as traffic congestion or potholes to navigation providers or local authorities. Drivers could then redeem their rewards, such as free coffee, or use them to automatically pay tolls, parking fees and for smart charging electric vehicles. "Smart Wallet removes the need for drivers to hunt for loose change or sign up to multiple accounts to pay for a variety of everyday services," JLR said in a statement. Unlike other similar systems, due to its structure, Smart Wallet would require no transaction fee to operate and over time transactions will get faster across the entire network, forecast .

50.29% polling in Rajasthan till 3 p.m (4th Lead)

Around 50.29 per cent voting was recorded in 12 parliamentary constituencies of Rajasthan till 3 p.m. on Monday in the second phase of polling.

Using phones while shopping may make you buy more: Study

People who use their smartphones for making calls, texting or listening to music while shopping at a store are more likely to make unplanned purchases and forget items they had planned to buy, according to a study. Researchers from the Fairfield University in the US investigated the impact of mobile phone use on in-store shopping behaviour. They found that those who used mobile phones in store for purposes unrelated to shopping, such as making phone calls, texting, checking emails or listening to music, were more likely to make unplanned purchases and forget items they had planned to buy. The study, published in the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, observed this effect even when phones were only used for part of the shopping trip, suggesting that in-store mobile phone use may consume attentional resources even after the phone is put away. "Our finding that phone use that is unrelated to shopping negatively affects shopping behaviour was in stark contrast to beliefs held by

Science minister says Pak sent Hubble Telescope in space, gets trolled

Pakistan's Science and Technology Minister Fawad Chaudhry was trolled online after he said that the Hubble Space Telescope was sent into space by the country's space agency Suparco, instead of NASA. Chaudhry, speaking in a talk show on Geo News, claimed that "The world's biggest telescope was sent by Suparco [Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission]". " one of the ways to see is the Hubble Telescope, which is the world's biggest telescope and was sent [into space] by Suparco, which is installed in a satellite," he said. The Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (Suparco) is responsible for Pakistan's public and civil space programme and for aeronautics and aerospace research. He went on to add, "Then there are other satellites, and there are other (types of) technologies." The minister's gaffe triggered hilarious reactions and memes on Twitter. "May be NASA head will resign and also join the Ministry of @fawadchaudhry as head of Suparco," one user tweeted. "You have ..

Moderate polling till 2 pm in phase five of LS polls

Moderate polling was recorded till early afternoon on Monday in 51 constituencies spread over seven states in the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha elections.According to the Election Commission, West Bengal recorded the highest voter turnout of 50.78 per cent till 2 pm, while Jammu and Kashmir registered the lowest with 11.35 per cent.Jharkhand recorded the second highest turnout with 45.98 per cent followed by Madhya Pradesh (43.85 pc), Rajasthan (42.77 pc), Uttar Pradesh (35.15 pc) and Bihar (32.27 pc).

Using phones while shopping may make you buy more

People who use their mobile phones for making calls or listening to music while shopping are more likely to make unplanned purchases and forget items they had planned to buy, says a study.

Minister says Pakistan sent Hubble to space, gets trolled

Pakistan's Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry was mercilessly trolled by Twitterati after he claimed that the Hubble Space Telescope was sent into space by the country's aeronautics and aerospace research agency Suparco, instead of its US counterpart NASA.

Qualcomm's Snapdragon 5G chip to come in 2 variants

US-based chipmaker Qualcomm is expected to launch the 5G-enabled Snapdragon 865 chipset in two variants -- one with a built-in 5G modem and the other with an external 5G modem.