Technology

Now, antivirus jeans to avoid virtual identity theft!

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A wearable tech firm has joined forces with antivirus company Norton to develop a new pair of jeans that will prevent virtual identity theft.

The ‘ Ready Jeans Protected by Norton’ feature two pockets-one in the front and back-protected by RFID-blocking fabrics, which should protect the user’s credit cards, passports, and other RFID(Radio frequency identification)-enabled items from bad guys looking to get friendly with an RFID reader, PC World reported.

Global CO2 emissions soar to all time high but with decreased growth rate

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A new study has revealed that although global CO2 emissions from fossil fuel use and cement production has reached an all new high, the growth has been notably slower at 2% than on average in the last ten years.

This slowdown, which began in 2012, signals a further decoupling of global emissions and economic growth, reflects mainly the lower emissions growth rate of China, but it was also found that USA, EU and China remain the top-3 emitters of CO2, accounting for respectively 29%, 15% and 11% of the world’s total.

World’s deep seas littered with plastic waste

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Around four billion microscopic plastic fibres could be littering each square kilometre of deep sea sediment around the world, shows a study.

“It is alarming to find such high levels of contamination, especially when the full effect of these plastics on the delicate balance of deep sea ecosystems is unknown,” said Lucy Woodall, zoologist at the Natural History Museum in Britain.

Marine plastic debris is a global problem, affecting wildlife, tourism and shipping.

Stars in middle-aged clusters may be of same age

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A new study has recently revealed that stars in the large middle-aged clusters at least, appear to be of similar age.

NGC 1615, a middle-age star cluster located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, contains stars that are of a more uniform age than previously believed.

A close look at the night sky reveals that stars don’t like to be alone; instead, they congregate in clusters, in some cases containing as many as several million stars.

Apple suspends online sales in Russia after rouble’s fall

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US technology giant Apple has said it has stopped selling its products in Russia online due to volitality in the value of the rouble, media reported Wednesday.

The company has stopped sales of iPhones, iPads and other products in the country after its currency fell more than 20 percent this week, BBC reported.

The rouble has lost more than 20 percent this week, despite the Russian government decision to raise interest rates from 10.5 percent to 17 percent to contain the free fall of the currency.

Global CO2 emissions soar to all time high but with decreased growth rate

by

A new study has revealed that although global CO2 emissions from fossil fuel use and cement production has reached an all new high, the growth has been notably slower at 2 percent than on average in the last ten years.

This slowdown, which began in 2012, signals a further decoupling of global emissions and economic growth, reflects mainly the lower emissions growth rate of China, but it was also found that USA, EU and China remain the top-3 emitters of CO2, accounting for respectively 29 percent, 15 percent and 11 percent of the world’s total.

Apple Pay gets more support from banks

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The electronic payment system Apple Pay, which allows the new iPhone to make payments in stores, has the backing of banks that dominate 90 percent of all credit cards transactions from the US, the company has announced.

The technology giant introduced the new system in September, coinciding with the launch of the iPhone 6 and the announcement of its first smart watch, the Apple Watch.

Technique that sprays water in air to bring rain

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Clouds form when water droplets gather on dust or other particles in the air. Increasing the amount of salt particles in the atmosphere allows more of these water droplets to form the clouds denser and more reflective.

Now, a team from universities of Manchester, Washington and Edinburgh have found a technique called “Rayleigh Jet” which can spray a fine jet of water that breaks down into small droplets in the sky.

The liquid droplets evaporate quickly, leaving behind just the salt particles.

Giant undersea ‘Ocean Spiral’ city may soon become reality

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The Ocean Spiral, an underwater city that can generate energy from the seabed and is capable of providing lodging for 5,000 people may soon become a reality, it has been reported.

For the futuristic concept was proposed by Japanese construction firm Shimizu Corp, and the expertise was being sought from Tokyo University, Japanese government ministries as well as energy firms to bring the project to life, CNN reported.

Divided into three distinctive zones, the structure will stretch all the way to the crushing black depths 2.8 miles under the sea off the coast of Japan.

Twitter in two minds over autoplaying videos on users’ timeline

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Social networking site Twitter is reportedly in two minds over autoplaying videos on its users’ timeline.

According to The Verge, Twitter is said to be “cautious” about implementing autoplay, but the service already makes heavy use of video.

Facebook and Instagram have already introduced the new autoplay feature.

While some Facebook users were not happy with the new feature initially, it went on to become a hit, boosting Facebook’s advertising business.

Composite plane life cycle assessment shows lighter planes are the future

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A global fleet of composite planes could reduce carbon emissions by up to 15 per cent, but the lighter planes alone will not enable the aviation industry to meet its emissions targets, according to new research.

The study, by the Universities of Sheffield, Cambridge and University College London, is the first to carry out a comprehensive life cycle assessment (LCA) of a composite plane, such as the Boeing Dreamliner 787 or Airbus ??350, and extrapolate the results to the global fleet.

BMW developing cars that can be parked using smartwatches

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Luxury automobile maker BMW is reportedly working on a technology that will allow drivers to park their cars using a smartwatch.

According to The Verge, BMW will be showing off its recent advances in autonomous vehicle research, including the smartwatch-operable Remote Valet Parking Assistant at CES 2015.

The i3 research vehicle with four “advanced laser scanners,” can spot and avoid any sudden obstructions within an environment.

On detecting an obstruction, the i3’s on-board assistance system automatically triggers brakes.

—ANI

Samsung planning to launch new app to compete with Apple Pay, Google wallet

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Samsung is planning to launch an application that would allow users to make purchases right through their phones giving a competition to Apple Pay and Google wallet, said reports.

According to the Verge, getting into the mobile payment game is crucial for Samsung as it makes its own software to compete with whatever Google and Apple may have.

Users of Samsung’s Android phones would have another mobile payments option to choose from, with Google Wallet and others like Softcard, which is forced on Samsung devices by carriers.

Quadriplegic woman makes medical history with mind-controlled robot arm

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A quadriplegic woman has made medical history by using a robot arm with just her thoughts to pick up big and small boxes, a ball, an oddly shaped rock, and fat and skinny tubes.

According to the researchers at the University Of Pittsburg School Of Medicine, this is the first time a participant has used -degree brain control of a prosthetic device to reach, grasp, and place a variety of objects.

Students’ active engagement in music classes can lead to language development

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A new study has revealed that youngsters who sit actively in a music class show greater gains in speech processing and reading.

Researchers from Northwestern University found that children, who regularly attended music classes and actively participated, showed larger improvements in how the brain processes speech and reading scores than their less-involved peers after two years.

The research also showed that the neural benefits stemming from participation occurred in the same areas of the brain that are traditionally weak in children from disadvantaged backgrounds.

How brain deciphers what smells good or bad

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A new study provided a deeper insight into how the brain can distinguish between good and bad smells.

Scientists from the BMBF Research Group Olfactory Coding at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena, Germany, have now found that in fruit flies, the quality and intensity of odors can be mapped in the so-called lateral horn.

Apple finally wins ‘long-running’ 1 bln dollar anti-trust class action suit

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A jury in California has found Apple not guilty of engaging in anti-competitive behavior as alleged by consumers.

The focus of the long-running lawsuit was Apple’s 2006 update to its iTunes software which meant that only iPod users could purchase music from the store, reported the BBC.

Lawyers representing consumers and electronic retailers argued that the tech giant used its iTunes software to persuade consumers to buy iPods instead of rival devices between 2006 and 2009. The move shut out other devices artificially and caused the price of iPods to rise, they said.

Instagram adds five new filters for still images

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Instagram has reportedly added five new filters to give users more options to experiment with still images.

According to Tech Crunch, each of the new filters has a slightly odd-sounding name. The five filters are called Slumber, Crema, Ludwig, Aden and Perpetua.

The Instagram blog says that the filters soften and subtly shift colors to achieve the look and feel the user wants for each photo.

The app will also use a preview of the user’s actual photo within the filter icons as opposed to the ultra-familiar hot air balloon preview, the report added.

—ANI

Facebook launches new feature to enhance photos by default

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Facebook has launched a new feature wherein the photos that people post from their phones would be enhanced by default with the app adjusting lighting, shadows and general clarity.

However, only iPhone users would be able to see the upgrade on their phones as of now. The changes that the app makes can also be removed from the photo or enhanced further.

According to the Verge, Android will soon be updated with the feature wherein the operating system’s users would be able to see the default photo enhancer.

Google’s `year in search` reveals Robin Williams’ death was top global trend in 2014

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Google’s `year in search` 2014 has revealed that the top global trending search was the story of Robin Williams’ death, followed by the World Cup and Ebola.

It was also found that the searches for depression tests and mental health increased in the wake of Williams’ death, the Verge reported.

While the lost Malaysian Airlines plane MH370 was one of the top searches, for example, Google was able to parse that “mh370 found” was searched far more often than “mh370 lost.”

E-cigarettes expose rising number of non-smoking teens to nicotine use

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A new research has revealed that e-cigarettes expose rising number of non-smoking teens to nicotine use.

Researchers at the Norris Cotton Cancer Center and University of Hawaii Cancer Center find that one-third of Hawaiian adolescents have tried e-cigarettes, half of whom have never used another tobacco product.

Researcher James D. Sargent said that this is a markedly different pattern of use compared to their peers in the continental U.S., where teen e-cigarette use is less than half that rate and e-cigarette users are mainly also cigarette smokers (dual-users).

Experts say no security can ensure cybercrime prevention

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Security experts say there are no possible solutions to ensure full-proof security and prevent future cyber attacks.

Mandiant, the cyber security firm investigating the Sony breach, says that there is no such thing as perfect security, adding the attackers get smarter and change tactics all the time.

The security firm says that even companies that have made responsible and sustained investments in IT continue to be compromised, Deadline.com reports.

Mandiant also noted that all companies that were targeted by hackers had up-to-date anti-virus software.

ESA’s Venus Express finally ends eight-year mission

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European Space Agency’s Venus Express has finally ended its eight-year mission after far exceeding its planned life.

The spacecraft, which has been on an elliptical 24 hour orbit, travelling 66 000 km above the south pole at its furthest point and to within 200 km over the north pole on its closest approach, exhausted its propellant during a series of thruster burns to raise its orbit following the low-altitude aerobraking earlier this year.