Technology

NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft had officially commenced its first ever remarkable encounter with Pluto recently.

The spacecraft is entering the first of several approach phases that culminate July 14 with the first close-up flyby of the dwarf planet, 4.67 billion miles (7.5 billion kilometers) from Earth.

The fastest spacecraft when it was launched, New Horizons lifted off in January 2006. It awoke from its final hibernation period last month after a voyage of more than 3 billion miles, and will soon pass close to Pluto, inside the orbits of its five known moons.

Beset with a patent battle in India over its smartphones, Xiaomi is now trying to bolster its patent portfolio in China and elsewhere.

CEO Lei Jun said on Thursday that people think Xiaomi does not respect technological innovation and has no patents. He added, “I think everyone misunderstands,” reported PC World.

While revealing its new Mi Note, Jun said that the company had applied for 2,318 patents last year, out of which 665 were outside of China.

Xiaomi’s patent portfolio is weak as it was founded only in 2010.

Sharing news on social media sites like Facebook can help you get on top of it as well as stay connected longer than people who casually read the news and scroll down, says a researcher.

“Sharing and discussing news content on social media sites like Facebook can actually drive greater involvement with news and information,” said S. Shyam Sundar, professor of communications and co-director of the media effects research laboratory at Pennsylvania State University.

Google has said that the company will suspend the sales of its Glass eyewear Google Glass and insisted that they were committed to launching the smart glasses as a consumer product but will suspend production in its present form.

The programme was launched in the United States in 2013 and was then launched in the UK last summer, reported BBC.

It is expected that Google will launch a complete consumer launch of the product.

Google said that it would stop taking order for Google Glass but would continue to support companies that are using Glass.

—ANI

Microsoft’s decision to stop support for the Windows 7 operating system will leave nine out of 10 Windows devices in China running with little or no official support in the world’s second-biggest economy.

Microsoft suspended “mainstream support” of the product yesterday, meaning neither new features nor free help will be given to Windows 7 users.

The company will continue to patch security vulnerabilities until 2020, state-run China Daily reported.

US space agency NASA said its New Horizons spacecraft Thursday officially began its six-month approach to Pluto, with the first close-up flyby scheduled for July 14.

After a voyage of nine years covering 4.8 billion km (3 billion miles), the piano-sized probe awoke from its final hibernation period in early December for the encounter, and Thursday, several science instruments on board, including a space-dust detector, were activated, Xinhua reported.

Russian federal space agency Roscosmos and US space agency NASA are maintaining constant contact after a false alarm triggered an emergency situation at the International Space Station (ISS), Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said on Wednesday.

A meeting was convened among ISS crew onboard, Roscosmos, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and European Space Agency (ESA) to keep abreast of the latest development at the space station, Xinhua reported.

Material engineers including an Indian-origin scientist from University of Wisconsin-Madison have reported the highest-performing carbon nanotube transistors ever demonstrated – a significant leap toward creating flexible electronics with improved battery life.

Carbon nanotubes are single atomic sheets of carbon rolled up into a tube.

As some of the best electrical conductors ever discovered, carbon nanotubes have long been recognised as a promising material for next-generation transistors.

Scientists have recently developed a new computer program that is said to be unbeatable at poker, it has been reported.

The program developed by the Computer Research Poker Group at the University of Alberta in Canada has been named Cepheus, henceforth to be known as “Ceph the Unbeatable,” the Independent reported.

While researchers have previously developed “unbeatable” algorithms for games such as chess or draughts, this is the first time that scientists have “solved” a game in which some information (i.e. the cards in the opponent’s hand) remains hidden from the player.

Microsoft has announced new Lumia 435 and Lumia 532 with lowered prices to increase sales of Windows Phone by reaching a wider group of potential buyers.

According to The Verge, the Lumia 435 and Lumia 532, both measuring 4 inches in size will cost less than 100 dollars before the usual taxes and subsidies.

Priced at 69 euros (a little more than 80 dollars), Lumia 435 is the cheapest Windows Phone to date and yet it runs Windows Phone 8.1 with the Lumia Denim update.

The gadget comes with a 1GB of RAM and 8GB of expandable storage and has a 2-megapixel camera..

Scientists have recently developed a new computer program that is said to be unbeatable at poker, it has been reported.

The program developed by the Computer Research Poker Group at the University of Alberta in Canada has been named Cepheus, henceforth to be known as “Ceph the Unbeatable,” the Independent reported.

While researchers have previously developed “unbeatable” algorithms for games such as chess or draughts, this is the first time that scientists have “solved” a game in which some information (i.e. the cards in the opponent’s hand) remains hidden from the player.

The social networking site has launched “Facebook at Work”, a service that works like regular Facebook except you use it to connect to colleagues who may or may not be friends.

The service is being tested ahead of its public launch scheduled later this year, wired.com reported.

“Facebook at Work” has the same look, apps and tools as found on the Facebook but with a different colour scheme.

The colour scheme is shaded white instead of Facebook’s trademark blue, making it easy for employers to tell whether you are on Facebook or “Facebook at Work” during office hours.

Discovery of “carbon nanotube” can lead to flexible electronics with longer battery life, it has been reported.

University of Wisconsin-Madison materials engineers have made a significant leap toward creating higher-performance electronics with improved battery life, and the ability to flex and stretch.

Google is set to release an updated version of its Google Translate app this week that will make it easier and faster to translate printed text and conversations, a report said.

The first update is the introduction of a new feature called Word Lens. It will allow users to just point their camera’s phone at a sign or any other text and have it translated into another language, which will appear live on the screen, reported The Verge.