Technology

Dolby Atmos extends footprint to Kerala

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Dolby Laboratories, one of the leading pioneers in sound, Tuesday announced the entry of its latest cinematic sound technology Dolby Atmos in Kerala. EVM Group’s Jawahar Cinema will be the first movie hall in the state to offer the new technology to the cinema lovers.

Dolby Atmos unleashes the potential of sound in storytelling by giving filmmakers the creative freedom to easily place or move sounds anywhere in the movie theatre to create a lifelike, virtual reality of sound and the most powerful cinema experience ever.

First Mars settlers to devour grasshoppers?

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Even as scientists explore possibilities of human settlement on the red planet, speculations are now on as to what could be the diet of the first human settlers in Mars.

“Initially, a vegetarian diet would seem logical as it is the simplest in terms of agricultural management,” wrote noted author Doug Turnbull in Space.com.

However, for a source of animal protein, the early Mars settlers might turn to grasshoppers.

This dress goes transparent as you are turned on!

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Wear this dress very, very carefully as it goes transparent the moment you are sexually aroused.

Aptly named ‘Intimacy 2.0’, the dress gets transparent when the wearer is aroused.

Tiny sensors embedded in the dress detect changes in wearer’s body temperature and heart rate.

As the heart rate goes up, the e-foils transform into a clear plastic, leaving all bare open.

Developed by Netherlands-based Studio Roosegarde, the dress is available in white or black fake leather material.

Breakthrough in measuring universe’s rate of expansion could help explain dark energy

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Researchers have found a new way of using quasars to track the expanding universe, which the claim is the most precise measurement yet.

The Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS), the largest component of the third Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-III), pioneered the use of quasars to map density variations in intergalactic gas at high redshifts, tracing the structure of the young universe.

Robots unlikely to take over manufacturing jobs

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A landmark report on production in Australia suggests that robots will not take over manufacturing jobs, but enhance future employment opportunities.

But as demand for workers with a higher level of skills grows, some workers will find themselves at risk of displacement, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

Alignment of Sun, Mars and Earth sparks ‘end of the world’ speculations

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The rare alignment of Sun, Mars and Earth, called “an opposition”, which will happen today, has reawakened some ‘end of the world’ believes since it is occurring a week before the sighting of the first of four dark red ‘blood moons’ lunar eclipses.

According to the King James Bible, when the “sun turns dark” and the “moon turns red”, it will be the second coming of Christ that represents the End of Days, the Daily Express reported.

Confirming the news, NASA’s rep said that a highly unusual ‘Tetrad’ will happen a week from today and finish on September 28 2015.

Yahoo set to acquire high-end original video programming

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Yahoo is planning to boost their online videos efforts by acquiring high-end original video programming.

According to The Guardian, Yahoo is planning to release four web comedy series, each half-hour long and are expected to have per-episode budgets of up to a few million dollars.

With this move, Yahoo will be competing against the likes of Amazon, Hulu, Netflix etc.

In late March, Yahoo was reportedly in talks to acquire video syndication service News Distribution Network for 300 million dollars, another move aimed at better economic terms, the report added.(ANI)

Now, an iPhone case that lets users click photos discreetly

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Apple is reportedly planning to launch a new iPhone case called ‘Covr’.

These cases allows users to click photos discreetly.

According to Cnet, the case has a prism lens fitted that allows users to click photographs while holding the phone like a TV remote, making it much easier to click photographs and not catching an eye.

The case does not promote violating someone’s privacy, but this is an amazing tool if you are a fan of candid photography.

Covr is expected to hit the market in around four months.(ANI)

Targeting Anopheles mosquitoes’ sperm could help in fight against malaria

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Researchers have suggested that targeting sperm protection in mosquitoes could help in the fight against malaria.

Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes are the main transmitters of malaria, which affects around 200 million people every year. The females mate only once during their lives. They store the sperm from this single mating in an organ called the spermatheca, from which they repeatedly take sperm over the course of their lifetime to fertilise the eggs that they lay.

Aggression in video gamers comes from failure, not violent content

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Slamming popular belief, psychologists have claimed that feelings of failure and frustration lead to aggression in video game players rather than the videos’ violent content.

The study is the first to look at the player’s psychological experience with video games instead of focusing solely on its content.

Researchers found that failure to master a game and its controls led to frustration and aggression, regardless of whether the game was violent or not.

Now, app that stops teens from texting while driving

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A pair of entrepreneurial brothers in Florida have created an app called TXTShield that they claim will get people to put down their phones when they’re behind the wheel.

In Kentucky, Mobile Life Solutions created a similar app called Text Limit.

As part of Distracted Driving Awareness Month, Kentucky and West Virginia drivers can download the Text Limit app for free.

TXTShield co-founder Phil Stiles told CBS News that the goal is to change the behavior so when they start driving, they don’t even look.

Both apps work with GPS to monitor the speed of the car.

520-million-year-old shrimp-like creatures had ‘modern’ hearts and blood vessels

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Researchers have found a fossil of 520-million-year-old shrimp-like creatures, which had “modern” hearts and blood vessels.

The findings of the international team of researchers from the University of Arizona, China and the United Kingdom sheds new light on the evolution of body organization in the animal kingdom and shows that even the earliest creatures had internal organizational systems that strongly resemble those found in their modern descendants.

Revealed: How earth got tectonic plates

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In what could be a probable answer to an enduring puzzle about how earth’s tectonic plates were created, a thrilling research indicates that these tectonic plates may have taken as long as one billion years to form.

Geophysicists have discovered that earth’s outermost layer, or lithosphere, was weakened by movement in viscous layers below it – a process when one plate dives below another.

Starting roughly four billion years ago, cooler parts of earth’s crust were pulled downwards into the warmer upper mantle, damaging and weakening the surrounding crust.

Violence against kids at home goes unreported: Study

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Children witness a lot of domestic violence that is often not reported to the police, a study finds.

A study of children who have witnessed domestic violence found that just one in four incidents resulted in police reports and a smaller fraction of offenders went to jail.

“One of the most shocking findings is that less than two percent of the cases resulted in jail time for the perpetrator,” said lead researcher Sherry Hamby, a psychology research professor at Sewanee-University of the South in the US.

Capital’s fashion institute hosts show to encourage voting

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As polling for India’s general election started Monday, a fashion institute here organised a show to urge youths to participate in the voting.

Fashionista, The School of Fashion Technology, held a fashion show on the theme of Vote India in the premises of the institute at Ansal Plaza Monday.

The theme of the event was chosen to encourage youth to vote, especially the first-time voters.

NASA’s Mars rover arrives at next science destination

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NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover has arrived at a scientifically enticing destination to carry out the next drilling operation in search of clues about ancient Red planet environment that may have been favourable for life.

Last week, Curiosity drove the last 98 feet needed to arrive at a site planned since early 2013 as a destination for studying rock clues about ancient environments, NASA said.

The rover reached a vantage point for its cameras to survey four different types of rock intersecting in an area called “the Kimberley,” after a region of western Australia.

Tag Heuer comes up with first ever ‘self-charging’ smartphone

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Tag Heuer has come up with a smartphone that can “self-charge” itself via a new form of solar power.

The ‘ Meridiist Infinite ‘, which is a between Atelier Haute Communication and Sunpartner Technologies, has a mall 2.4-inch LCD display, 5-megapixel camera and 8GB storage, the Daily Star reported.

The phone is made from grade 5 Titanium and carbon and only 1911 models have been made. (ANI)

NASA probe set to meet death on moon!

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A NASA spacecraft that was launched last September to collect scientific data from the lunar surface is set for a natural death on the moon later this month.

The LADEE probe (Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer) is expected to hit the far side of the moon not visible from the earth and naturally decay, NASA said in a press release.

The scientists are, however, trying to ascertain that LADEE does not harm the moon’s surface.

Google to launch ‘Android TV’

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Google is reportedly planning to launch Android TV.

In documents obtained by The Verge, Google said that Android TV is an entertainment interface, not a computing platform.

The company wrote that it’s all about finding and enjoying content with the least amount of friction and assured that the experience would be nothing less than cinematic, fun, fluid, and fast.

Meanwhile, Google is calling for developers to build extremely simple TV apps for an extremely simple set-top-box interface, the report added. (ANI)

Sun, Earth and Mars to align on April 8

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The Sun, Earth and Mars will fall into a straight line in a rare cosmic occurrence, called “an opposition”, on April 8.

Mars completes an orbit around the sun in 687 days as compared to the Earth, which is closer to the sun and takes 365 days, News.com.au reported.

These differences mean an opposition is rare, occurring about once every couple of years. (ANI)

These X-rays locate diamonds hidden deep in rocks

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German researchers have developed a unique X-ray technique that brightens the prospects of locating diamonds hidden deep in rocks.

This new technology would allow diamond hunters to pinpoint larger diamonds deep down the earth, avoiding the conventional method of breaking up the entire rock, as it requires a lot of energy.

“The X-ray’s eagle eye could even find the highly coveted rare earths that are concealed in old cellphones, computers, and television sets to utilise them,” said the Fraunhofer Institute’s development centre for X-ray technology.

Samsung to add anti-theft features to smartphones

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Samsung is reportedly planning to add two safeguards to its latest smartphone in order to contain incidents of mobile theft.

The world”s largest mobile-phone maker said users will be able to activate for free its “Find My Mobile” and “Reactivation Lock” anti-theft features to protect the soon-to-be-released Galaxy 5 S, the Dawn reported.

Google to launch ‘Android TV’

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Google is reportedly planning to launch Android TV. In documents obtained by The Verge, Google said that Android TV is an entertainment interface, not a computing platform. The company wrote that it’s all about finding and enjoying content with the least amount of friction and assured that the experience would be nothing less than cinematic, fun, fluid, and fast. Meanwhile, Google is calling for developers to build extremely simple TV apps for an extremely simple set-top-box interface, the report added. (ANI)

Sebi gets new software tools for fraud detection, probes

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With an aim to beef up its capabilities to detect frauds and bring scamsters to book, Sebi is putting in place new software tools to help in its investigations and surveillance activities.

The new tools would help the capital markets watchdog in keeping a close watch on possible manipulative activities in the stock markets by monitoring suspicious trades as also by analysing the information available in the public domain such as on social media and other Internet platforms.

Get that grocery home by app? Amazon!

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Tired of juggling to park your car as you approach the supermarket to finish weekend shopping for kitchen? Better download this app that would work as a virtual servant for you.

Launched by Amazon, this new gadget called Dash is a remote control to buy groceries.

Looking like a wand, Dash automates the task of creating a shopping list.

You can speak into it or use it to scan a barcode.

Dash then adds those items to your Amazon fresh account.

Once you are finished ordering, schedule a delivery.