idTracker, A Software That Identifies, Tracks Individuals in a Group
Researchers at the Spanish National
Research Council have developed a new 'idTracker' software that enables
the identification of individuals within a group. Researchers say that
the software could in future be used to track criminals, making it
difficult for them to disappear in a crowd.
The software, which is based on
algorithms, was used to follow the route traced by an animal by using
video recordings of the subject. Researchers say that idTracker creates a
virtual "footprint" of each animal, which makes them easy to track even
in large groups. Researchers state that the idTracker software is very easy to use and can be used to identify a variety of different species.
"We have done tests with fish (Danio rerio
and Oryzias latipes), flies (Drosophila melanogaster), ants
(Messorstructor) and mice (Mus musculus), but it can be applied to other
animals," researchers said.
Among the applications of this software,
Alfonso Perez Escudero, CSIC researcher noted that "in the short term,
this will be used in science, but in the longer term, the method we have
developed can be applied to recognize people in large crowds, vehicles
or parts in a factory, for instance."
Samsung Galaxy W, 7-inch Quad-core Voice-calling Tablet Unveiled
It has leather-like stitched design on the back, similar most of the recent Samsung smartphones. It is just 99.6mm in width and has 16:9 aspect ratio for comfortable one-handed usage during voice calls, says Samsung. It also has LTE-Advanced that would offer data speeds of up to 150 Mbps.
Samsung Galaxy W specifications
- 7-inch (1280 x 720 pixels) HD display
- 1.2 GHz quad-core processor
- Android 4.3 (Jelly Bean)
- 8MP camera with LED flash
- 2MP front-facing camera
- Dimensions: 191.8×99.6×8.8 mm; Weight: 245 grams
- 2GB RAM, 16 GB internal memory (11 GB user memory), Upto 64GB expandable memory via microSD card
- 4G LTE-A / 3G HSPA+, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS
- 3200 mAh Battery
Android 4.4.3 Factory Images and Binaries Spotted, Update Coming Soon
Google has officially confirmed the Android 4.4.3 update, by posting a few factory images and binaries. The update is being rolled out to US' T-Mobile subscribers who own the Google Nexus 4, 5 or 7, starting June 2.
Google has posted Android 4.4.3 images for the Nexus 5, Nexus 7 (2013) WiFi, Nexus 10, Nexus 4, and Nexus 7 (2012) WiFi and Mobile. The Nexus 5′s Android 4.4.3 will be build KTU84M, while the rest will see KTU84L. Check out the factory images for Nexus devices and binaries.
The Android 4.4.3 brings security enhancements and various bug fixes. One of the first change spotted in the new update is the new skinned dialer that is little lighter themes than in builds below 4.4.3. It may be recalled Google had already shown the new dialer, when its official @GoogleNexus Twitter account inadvertently leaked the dialer back in April.
Flipkart Acquires Myntra For About $300 Million
India's largest e-commerce company Flipkart has finalized the acquisition of the Bangalore-based online fashion store Myntra according to official sources at both the companies. Myntra's founder, Mukesh Bansal will join the Flipkart board and both the entities will remain independent.
According to reports, Flipkart will invest around $100 million in the fashion business. Flipkart's co-founder Sachin Bansal has said that "its a 100 percent acquisition and going forward we have big plans in this segment."
As of now, financial details of the deal have not been revealed but sources from Flipkart say that the transaction was valued at close to $300 million. The deal will surely help Flipkart in becoming a leading e-retailer in the online fashion business in India. The deal is said to be a combination of both cash and stock.
Tiger Global Management and Accel Partners, which have majority shares in both the companies, have been credited with initiating the deal in the first place. According to sources, Flipkart founders Sachin and Binny Bansal own less than 10 percent of Flipkart while Mukesh Bansal owns around 6-7 percent in Myntra.
HP 7 Plus Unveiled with 7-inch Display
HP today released a new Android tablet in the US, making it the company’s cheapest slate ever. Called HP 7 Plus, the tablet can be bought for only $99.99.
According to HP, the 7 Plus has “got responsiveness that delivers entertainment where you want it.” It’s similar in design to the HP 8 that was launched in March, while also sharing some of its features.
The HP 7 Plus runs Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean, and obviously sports a 7-inch display (with a low-density pixel resolution of 600 x 1,024). The tablet further offers Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n, a 2MP rear camera, VGA front-facing camera, quad-core Allwinner A31 (ARM Cortex A7) processor clocked at 1GHz, 1GB of RAM, and 8GB of expandable internal memory. A 2,800 Li-Po battery is included.
Like the HP 8, the HP 7 Plus is offered with free 25GB lifetime cloud storage from Box. You can buy the 7 Plus tablet via HP’s online store at the source link below (it looks like it’s available only in silver, with no other color options being announced).
This Indian Mario Video May Be the Best Thing
Despite the game never being officially launched in India, many of us grew up playing Super Mario Bros. on our Little Master or Sega consoles. If Nintendo had ever realised how popular the little Italian plumber was in India, they would have perhaps created an Indian version of the gaming superstar. Since they haven’t, we’ll have to be content with this amazing ‘Indianized’ version of Mario (or rather, ‘Mukesh’) created by the always funny folks over at All India Bak****.
The video hits all the right spots when it comes to popular culture in India including a ‘Rajnikanthi-fied’ Mario and an ending straight out of the blockbuster Hindi film Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge.
Qualcomm to Launch Chipset For Wearable Devices this Year
The US-based company is behind its Taiwan-based rival MediaTek which has already announced a chipset for smartwatches six months ago. In an effort to compete in the wearable devices market, Qualcomm is hoping to catch up with its rival by launching the chips later this year. The company also expects its customers to prefer its chipsets while manufacturing wearable devices.
Qualcomm CDMA Technologies Taiwan president Eddie Chang says the company "has all the technologies needed." He further added, "This year, you will see wearable devices carrying Qualcomm chips." Chang declined to reveal details about the wearable programs though. He said that the company may consider making chips specifically designed for wearable devices if the market reached a large scale. This means that if the wearable devices market doesn't register a substantial increase, Qualcomm might drop the idea of making such a chipset.
When it comes to the mobile phone market, Qualcomm is the clear leader with most manufacturer preferring the company's chipsets for almost all the high-end smartphones. Just last month, the company released its new 64-bit Snapdragon 810 and Snapdragon 808 processors manufactured on 20-nanometer technology. It will launch the first 64-bit processor by the end of this year.
Facebook Introduces Shazam-like Music Identification Feature
Facebook has introduced a new feature
that helps users identify songs they are listening to and watching.
Available for Facebook's mobile app, the new feature is said to be
highly inspired by popular app Shazam, which also offers similar song
identification feature. Facebook will be rolling out the feature on
Android and iOS in the US in the coming weeks.
So here's how it works: when a user has
turned on the feature, an audio icon appears on the display while
writing a status update. If the feature finds a match, one can choose to
add the song/TV show/movie to the status update.
If you have chosen to leave the feature
on, you will notice an audio icon move and attempt to detect a match
when you're setting a status update. You can also turn the feature off
any time by tapping on the audio icon in the top right of the screen.
If a user shares the post, friends can see a 30-second preview of the
song. “For TV shows, the story in News Feed will highlight the specific
season and episode you’re watching, so you can avoid any spoilers and
join in conversations with your friends after you’ve caught up,”
Facebook explains in a detailed post.Facebook's
new feature comes shortly after rumours that Apple will be adding a
similar song-ID feature in the next iOS 8 update. Rumours add Apple will
teaming up with Shazam in an attempt to expand its music offerings.
Project Ara Smartphones to be Powered by Toshiba Processors
Google's Project Ara smartphone which is predicted to be undraped in 2015, instrument let users frame their own smartphones and modify them. Now according to Nikkei, Toshiba is preparing ternion types of processors for the device, which testament be used in the modules as rise as within the smartphone.
According to Robot Control, the principal processor in Toshiba's set piping would be the company's TX series of microcontrollers, that are based on ARM's low-power Cortex M3 and M0 designs. Currently, Toshiba doesn't somebody a breaking that offers the write of execution that comes from a Cortex-A supercharged Qualcomm or Samsung chips and present give essential processing components on the basic maneuver, instead of the principal CPU.
Toshiba may also offering a constitute of nonsegregated circuits, DSP, small 8-bit microcontrollers, as cured as its own CMOS human sensors, that could be used in varied modules of Attribute Ara.
According to the estimation, the shipments of consume semiconductors for the smartphones give move this crumble. The elementary design Ara smartphone gift cost $50, and fill are expecting Google to transact billions of units in the freshman gathering of sales lone.
Google Overtakes Apple to Become Most Valuable Brand in the World
US search engine Google has overtaken rival technology titan Apple as the world's top brand in terms of value, global market research agency Millward Brown said Wednesday. Google's brand value shot up 40 percent in a year to $158.84 billion (115 billion euros), Millward Brown said in its 2014 100 Top BrandZ report.
"Google has been extremely innovative this year with Google Glass, investments in artificial intelligence and a range of partnerships," said Benoit Tranzer, the head of Millward Brown France.
Google Glass is Internet-linked eyewear for which the firm has joined hands with Luxottica, a frame giant behind Ray-Ban and other high-end brands, to sell the new product in the United States.
"All these activities send a very strong signal to consumers about the essence of Google," Tranzer said.
Apple, which dominated the top position for three straight years, saw its brand value fall by 20 percent to $147.88 billion. The top 10 of the 100 slots were dominated by US firms. IBM was in third place at $107.54 billion, a fall of 4 percent, followed by Microsoft at $90.19 billion -- a 29 percent rise. Fast food chain McDonald's ranked next at $85.71 billion, followed by Coca Cola ($80.68 billion), it said.
China led in the insurance sector with Ping An valued at $12.4 billion and China Life ($12 billion).
French luxury goods manufacturer Louis Vuitton ranked 30th overall but was the top luxury brand with a value of more than $25 billion. Brand value is calculated on the basis of the firms' financial performance and their standing among consumers.
Ebay Urges Users to Reset Passwords After Cyberattack
Auction site eBay has urged users to change their passwords after suffering what may have been the biggest-ever cyber-attack when hackers broke into a database holding its 233m customers’ personal data. EBay said the breach, which was detected two weeks ago, had not given the hackers access to customers’ financial information. But it did affect a database holding encrypted passwords as well as customer names, email addresses, physical addresses, phone numbers and dates of birth which were not encrypted.
The site has 233 million customers worldwide, including more than 14 million active in Britain.
In a statement, the auction site said that a database was compromised between late February and early March. PayPal, the payment arm of eBay, released a statement saying it was not affected and that financial information had not been compromised. Exposure of personal information such as postal addresses and dates of birth puts users at risk of identity theft, where the data is used to claim ownership of both online and real world identities. Users are also at risk of phishing attacks from malicious third-parties, which use the private details to trick people into handing over bank account, credit card or other sensitive information.
The break-in was not caused by the “Heartbleed” flaw in internet servers that received publicity this year. Instead, the hackers “compromised a small number of employee log-in credentials, allowing unauthorised access to eBay’s corporate network”, the company said.
“The scope for damage is absolutely huge and could be the biggest hack of all time, given the number of users eBay has,” said Rik Ferguson, global vice president of security research at security software firm Trend Micro.
Ebay has been described as the “golden goose” by some security researchers because of its large user base, but other internet companies yet to suffer large hacks of this nature are also considered prime targets. Ebay said it is investigating the compromise working with law enforcement and security experts. The company said that there had been “no evidence of the compromise resulting in unauthorised activity for eBay users, and no evidence of any unauthorised access to financial or credit card information”.
Users will be prompted by email as well as on-site to change their passwords as a precaution, despite the stolen passwords being encrypted and showing no evidence of being compromised. Shoppers who use the same password on other sites are encouraged to change those passwords too.
Google Releases Major Updates to Chrome and Google+ for Android
Google has rolled out big updates to its
Chrome and Google apps on Android. As expected, the updates bring a
bevy of new features, bug fixes and performance improvements.
First up is Chrome for Android.
The updated Chrome allows you to undo closed Tabs. The app now also
supports fullscreen video with subtitles and HTML5 controls. According
to the change log, the app has also added support for some multi-window
devices (not detailed). The updated Chrome v35.0.1916.122 is available
on Google Play store.
Google also released Chrome version 35
for Windows, Mac, and Linux. Mainly aimed at developers, the update
brings - More developer control over touch input, New JavaScript
features, new apps/extension APIs and lots of under the hood changes
for stability and performance. You can download/update the browser via google.com/chrome.
Facebook Offers Free Anti-malware Downloads From F-Secure and Trend Micro
Facebook in coordination with Trend
Micro and F-Secure has incorporated a new security solution that helps
detect malware and keep devices secure for Facebook users.
“Our goal is to make it easier for
people to find and use the right technology to better protect their
devices. We've worked with F-Secure and Trend Micro to incorporate free
anti-malware software downloads directly into our existing abuse
detection and prevention systems. These are the same systems that help
us block malicious links and bad sites from among the trillions of
clicks that take place every day on Facebook,” says Facebook in a post.
So here's how it works, when a user logs
in from an infected device, a pop notification on the screen is
displayed along with recommendation to use F-Secure's malware scanning
and cleanup technology or HouseCall from Trend Micro.
Users have the option to skip the
malware removal process and download recommendation scanner. But, users
may be again prompted for download later in that case. That said, users can continue using the
social network and other services while one downloads and runs the
scanner. After the scan is complete, users receive a notification
through Facebook along with results of the scan.
Panasonic P81, 5.5-inch Octa-core Smartphone Launched at Rs. 18,990
After teasing its flagship smartphone for several weeks, Panasonic has officially launched the Panasonic P81, its latest smartphone in the P Series. It has a 5.5-inch (1280 x 720 pixels) HD IPS display, powered by a 1.7 GHz Octa-Core processor with Mali 450 GPU and runs on Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean). It is just 7.9mm thick.
Commenting on the launch, Manish Sharma, Managing Director, Panasonic India said
"With the launch of the Panasonic P81, we have reached yet another milestone as this is the first model of the “P” series featured with octa-core processor. The introduction of this model reiterates our commitment to keep innovating as we believe that it is a direct result of the consumers’ needs, and customer centricity has to be at the core of developing products for the Indian consumer."
Panasonic P81 specifications
- 5.5-inch (1280 x 720 pixels) HD IPS display
- 1.7 GHz Octa-Core MediaTek MT6592 processor with Mali450-MP4 GPU
- Dual SIM with dual standby
- Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean)
- 13MP rear camera with LED Flash, 1080p video recording
- 2MP front-facing camera
- 3.5mm audio jack, FM Radio
- 1GB RAM, 8GB internal memory, expandable memory up to 32GB with MicroSD
- 3G HSPA+, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0, GPS
- 2500 mAh battery
Microsoft Unveils Surface Pro 3, Claims it Can Replace Laptops
Surface Pro 3 is thinner and lighter than its older siblings. It weighs only 800 grams and is around 9.1mm thick. Microsoft claims that it is the slimmest Intel Core product ever made. In reports of various hands-ons with the device, Surface Pro 3 has been reported to feel remarkably light in hand. It also comes with a brushed metal body which is quite sturdy. It is even lighter than the 13-inch MacBook Air and Microsoft claims that its 30 percent thinner than an 11-inch MacBook Air.
In terms of specifications, the top-end model of Surface Pro 3 features a 12-inch ClearType Full HD display, 4th generation Intel Core i7 processor and 8GB of RAM. Microsoft promises nine hours of web-browsing battery life with this device. It also features a new and completely redesigned Surface Pen which is supposed to "deliver a precise, luxurious drawing and note-taking experience." The display is sharp with an incredible 2160x1440 resolution and features a 3:2 aspect ratio.
The new Surface Pro 3 comes with a new kickstand and Type Cover combination. The new kickstand now supports a "canvas mode" that places the Surface Pro 3 at multiple angles for use either as a laptop or a tablet. The new Type Cover attachs to the Pro 3 magnetically and provides more sturdiness. It will also help users use the Pro 3 at an angle so that they can use it on their lap. Microsoft has also added a new larger trackpad to the Type Cover which could help improve the mouse input in the new tablet.
The Surface Pro 3 runs Windows 8.1 Pro that includes Microsoft Office for business customers. Users will be able to multitask with the side-by-side windows feature. It also features a full-size USB 3.0 port, microSD card reader and Mini DisplayPort for quick file transfer and connections to other devices.
Starting at $799, Surface Pro 3 will be offered in multiple configurations featuring 4th-generation Intel Core i3, i5 and i7 processors. The Intel Core i3 model starts at $799, a Core i5 version starts at $999 and the top-end Core i7 model starts at $1,549. Users will have options to choose from 4GB to 8GB of RAM and four additional storage options - 64GB to 512GB.
Customers can pre-order the Surface Pro 3, Surface Pro Type Cover and Surface Pen from today through Microsoft Store. The company says that more configurations will be available during August and additional accessories will be made available in the next few months. Microsoft has not mentioned India in the list of countries where it is looking to make the Surface Pro 3 available for purchase by the end August. Hopefully, we will see the launch of the device here soon after.
