Earn From Internet
lundi 11 janvier 2016
mercredi 15 août 2012
Microsoft details Windows RT partnerships
Microsoft has announced that five manufacturers will release Windows RT PCs following the launch of the operating system this October. Two systems have already been announced in the form of Microsoft's own Surface RT tablet and the recently unveiled Asus Tablet 600. In addition to this, three new hardware partners were announced, with Dell, Samsung and Lenovo all planning releases for Redmond's stripped back OS.
Windows RT is the version of Microsoft’s upcoming OS release that provides access to the company’s new app-based Start screen (previously known as the Metro UI). Unlike the full version of Windows 8, the RT version does not provide users with the traditional desktop workspace. Microsoft and Lenovo have previously announced tablets PCs that run the full Windows 8 OS (the Surface Pro and ThinkPad 2). These devices should not be confused with Windows RT tablets which won’t provide all the benefits of a full operating system, but will come in at a significantly lower price point.
The post on the company’s Building Windows 8 blog provides details on how Microsoft has been working closely with its hardware partners, with the goal of producing thin and light devices that feature responsive touch interfaces and long battery lives. The project has also worked to develop a new connected standby mode for Windows RT PCs that provides mobile phone-like “always on” functionality without significantly affecting battery life. This low power mode will allow devices to stay up-to-date when not in use, as well as turning on in less than a second.
Microsoft also revealed some statistics on the battery life of the early production versions of the new Windows RT PCs. While playing HD video at full resolution with a single email account connected, the systems collectively managed between 8 and 13 hours on a single charge. The various PCs were also tested in the new connected standby state, clocking in at between 320 and 409 hours. The first of these stats is comparable with Apple's popular iPad tablet, which manages around 10 hours of constant heavy-duty use, such as browsing the web or watching video.
Significant work has also gone into the functionality of the devices that feature full keyboard and touchpad solutions, such as the company’s own Surface RT tablet. A number of touch gestures will be supported when using a touchpad, including two-finger scrolling, pinch-to-zoom and edge swiping. Other details revealed in the post include the integration of Android Beam-like NFC data transfers (instigated via the physical touching of two Windows RT PCs), as well as the work that Microsoft has done to achieve its goal of 60 fps on all UI animations within the OS.
This hands-on approach to hardware design including careful integration with the OS, marks a notable break from convention for Microsoft, a company that usually plays little or no part in third-party hardware creation. Further details regarding the Samsung, Lenovo and Dell devices will be unveiled closer to the October 26 launch of Windows 8 and Windows RT.
lundi 13 août 2012
Camera-toting EyeRing could help blind people to "see" objects
The EyeRing system was created by Suranga Nanayakkara (who currently directs the Augmented Senses Research Group at Singapore University of Technology and Design), PhD student Roy Shilkrot and associate professor and founder of the Fluid Interfaces Group, Pattie Maes. It features a 3D-printed ABS nylon outer housing containing a small VGA camera unit, a 16 MHz AVR processor, a Bluetooth radio module and a 3.7V Li-ion battery. There's also a mini-USB port for charging the battery and reprogramming the unit, a power on/off switch and a thumb-activated button for confirming commands.
The user points the ring's camera at an object, tells the system what kind of information is needed via a microphone on the earphone cord and then clicks the button on the side of the unit. The camera snaps a photo and sends it to a Bluetooth-linked smartphone. A specially-developed Android app processes the image using computer-vision algorithms according to the preset mode selected by the user and uses a text-to-speech module to announce the appropriate results through earphones plugged into the smartphone.
The proof-of-concept prototype EyeRing system can currently be used to identify currency, text, pricing information on tags, and colors, and the preset mode can be changed by double-clicking the button and speaking a different command into the microphone. The information is also displayed on the screen of the smartphone in text form.
Other applications for the system include cane-free navigation. The current version determines the distance from objects by comparing two images taken by the camera, and can even create a 3D map of the surrounding environment. Future implementations might include the ability to shoot live video and provide all sorts of useful information to the wearer.
The EyeRing project is still very much a work in progress, with Maes confirming that any moves toward commercialization are likely at least two years away. The group is already working on an iOS flavor, though, and size and shape refinements are certain to be made (think Ringbow).
Single-user tests with a volunteer have confirmed the existing system's assistance potential, but the addition of more sensors (such as an infrared light source or a laser module, a second camera, a depth sensor or inertial sensors) to the finger-worn device could open it up to whole new levels of usefulness.
Soft, autonomous Meshworm robot moves like an earthworm
In an effort to create robots with soft, pliable exteriors that would be suited to exploring hard to reach places and traversing bumpy terrain, a team of researchers from MIT, Harvard University and Seoul National University has developed a robotic earthworm called Meshworm. Moving in the same manner as an earthworm, it looks disturbingly like an earthworm as it crawls across the floor. However, unlike an earthworm and despite its soft exterior, it is remarkably tough and can survive hammer blows and even being trodden.
When the word “robot” comes up in conversation we tend to think of something solid and metallic with arms and legs – or wheels or tracks. However, Meshworm joins a growing list of creepy-crawly inspired robots, such as GoQBot, HyDRAS and Scalybot 2, and the particular locomotive advantages such creatures offer.
The research team, which was funded by a DARPA contract, wanted a robot capable of covering rough terrain and squeezing safely into very small spaces and the earthworm proved a valuable source of inspiration. Its form of locomotion is based on peristalsis, which is the rhythmic expansion and contraction of muscles that is also used by snails, sea cucumbers and even for moving food down the human esophagus and through the intestines.
Of course, Meshworm doesn’t have muscles – at least, not as we think of them. Instead, it’s made out of a flexible mesh tube comprised of a very springy heat-sealed polymer. This not only holds the Meshworm together, but also helps in moving because it’s built along the lines of a stretch sock and aids contractions.
The real “muscles” are a number of shape-memory wires made of a nickel/titanium alloy. Shape memory materials can be bent, squashed and otherwise twisted out of shape, but once released, they snap back into their original shape. This particular type of alloy wire has the peculiar quality of contracting when heated and then returning to its original shape what cooled. Some of these wires are wrapped around Meshworm’s polymer tube body in a coil, while other straight wires run from back to front.
Inside Meshworm, there is small battery and a circuit board running a computer algorithm. This package shoots an electric current through the wires, heating them and causing them to contract. By alternating heated and cooling areas, Meshworm can undulate like a worm and crawl forward. The algorithm can even make the robot move in patterns by using the longitudinal running wires to steer.
The soft components that make up Meshworm make it ideal for squeezing into small spaces that are inaccessible to other robots, and it can do so without damaging its surroundings. It is also incredibly tough as the researchers demonstrated by pounding it with a hammer and then walking on it.
“You can throw it, and it won’t collapse,” said team leader Sangbae Kim, the Esther and Harold E. Edgerton Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at MIT. “Most mechanical parts are rigid and fragile at small scale, but the parts in Meshworms are all fibrous and flexible. The muscles are soft, and the body is soft … we’re starting to show some body-morphing capability.”
Meshworm is not the first attempt at a wormy robot. NASA, for example, studied the idea of a lunar rover in 1966 that moved by means of pneumatic bellows like the segments of a tomato worm. Since then, there have been all manner of artificial robot muscles running on motors, pneumatics, hydraulics and magnetic fluids. Unfortunately, these attempts required some pretty sophisticated mechanisms with equally sophisticated control systems.
Meshworm differs in that it is deceptively simple in design. All it needs is some circuitry, one set of wires coiling around the body to allow it to contract, and another set running its length to steer it. Even worms aren’t that streamlined.
According to the research team, possible applications for the Meshworm technology include endoscopes, implants and prosthetics, but Meshworm’s descendants may even show up in everyday gadgets. “Even though the robot’s body is much simpler than a real worm – it has only a few segments – it appears to have quite impressive performance,” Kellar Autumn, a professor of biology at Lewis and Clark College says. “I predict that in the next decade we will see shape-changing artificial muscles in many products, such as mobile phones, portable computers and automobiles.”
Scientists halve fat content of chocolate using fruit substitutes
Researchers at the University of Warwick have found a way to halve the fat content of chocolate without compromising any of the properties people prize in the cocoa-based confectionery. The discovery hinges on the substitution of fat with an unlikely alternative: fruit juice.
Droplets of orange and cranberry juice less than 30 micrometers in diameter were used as a direct substitute for some of the cocoa butter and milk fats that are generally essential in giving chocolate its choclateness. The juice droplets were infused into dark, milk and white chocolate to create what is known as a Pickering emulsion, an emulsion which is resistant to coalescence due to the presence of solid particles. The solid particles in this case were food grade hydrophobic silicates.
The scientists claim that the chocolatey properties aren't compromised thanks to the maintenance of the chocolate's "Polymorph V" structure, which gives it its glossy texture and allows it to melt in a pleasing way.
"Our study is just the starting point to healthier chocolate," said Dr. Stefan Bon, lead author on the paper. "We've established the chemistry behind this new technique but now we're hoping the food industry will take our method to make tasty, lower-fat chocolate bars."
As one might expect, the reduced fat chocolate does have a fruity taste, but the researchers are confident that water with a dash of ascorbic acid (a form of vitamin C) could be used instead of fruit juice to retain a chocolatey taste.
dimanche 12 août 2012
NASA sending Radiation Belt Storm Probes to study the Van Allen Belt
Radiation is a common hazard of space exploration and space agencies usually tend to avoid it for obvious reasons. It can be dangerous for astronauts and fatal to the microcircuitry of satellites. Why, then, is NASA sending its next unmanned mission right into the worst radiation hazard in the neighborhood? On August 23, two Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP) will launch atop an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida to study the radioactive Van Allen Belts.
The Van Allen Belts were detected in 1958 by the first successful American satellite, Explorer I, and are named after their discoverer James Van Allen. They are two belts of radiation caused by the interaction of the Sun and the Earth’s magnetic field. This results in charged protons and electrons getting caught in the field like iron filings around a magnet. These fields are of importance because, on the one hand, they protect the Earth against radiation coming from space, but on the other hand, they are no-go areas for astronauts and unmanned craft.
The RBSP mission is set to explore both belts. The two radiation-shielded probes will fly through the radioactive areas of highly-charged particles to learn more about how they are changed by events on the Sun, such as solar flares and coronal discharges. This is motivated by more than mere curiosity. Space weather affects satellites, communications, terrestrial power grids and the exposure of air passengers to radiation. A severe weather event, such as a massive flare pointed straight at Earth, could even knock out electricity on half the planet and destroy most computers.
"The dramatic dynamics of Earth's radiation belts caused by space weather are highly unpredictable," said Barry Mauk, RBSP project scientist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland. "One of the fundamental objectives of the RBSP mission is to use Earth's magnetosphere as a natural laboratory to understand generally how radiation is created and evolves throughout the universe. There are many mysteries that need to be resolved."
A part of NASA's Living With a Star Program, the RBSP mission is scheduled to last two years and will be controlled from the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
mercredi 8 août 2012
المصريون يودعون شهداءهم بهتافات ضد مرسي والمرشد
توافد مئات من المصريين منذ وقت مبكر من أمس الثلاثاء، إلى النصب التذكاري للجندي المجهول بمدينة نصر، (المعروف بالمنصة)، وذلك للمشاركة في تشييع جثامين شهداء القوات المسلحة المصرية الستة عشر برفح الذين وصلوا إلى المنصة ظهر أمس الثلاثاء.
وشهدت المنصة حضور عدد من الشخصيات السياسية والعامة للمشاركة في الجنازة العسكرية، يتقدمهم المشير حسين طنطاوي رئيس المجلس الأعلى للقوات المسلحة، والدكتور كمال الجنزوري، رئيس الوزراء السابق، أحمد فهمي، رئيس مجلس الشورى، الدكتور أحمد الطيب، شيخ الأزهر، بالإضافة إلى المرشحين الرئاسيين عمرو موسى، وعبد المنعم أبو الفتوح، وحمدين صباحي.
وانطلقت جنازة عسكرية و«شعبية» للشهداء، بمشاركة الرئيس محمد مرسي، والدكتور هشام قنديل، وقيادات المجلس العسكري، بجانب عدد من الشخصيات السياسية والعامة، وذلك من أمام المنصة والنصب التذكاري بمدينة نصر، الذي شهد تعزيزات أمنية مكثفة منذ ساعات الصباح.
وأدى المئات صلاة الجنازة على أرواح الشهداء الـ 16 في مسجد آل رشدان، عقب صلاة الظهر. وهتف بعض المصلين ضد الرئيس محمد مرسي والمرشد العام للإخوان المسلمين محمد بديع، فيما حاول بعضهم الاعتداء على رئيس الوزراء الجديد هشام قنديل بالأحذية.
وكان في انتظار الجثامين بالمسجد الفريق سامي عنان رئيس أركان الجش المصري، ونائب رئيس المجلس الأعلى للقوات المسلحة، وأعضاء المجلس الأعلى للقوات المسلحة وبعض رموز القوى السياسية والوطنية بالبلاد والقيادات التنفيذية والشعبية، ومرشح الرئاسة السابق الصحفي حمدين صباحي.
واصطفت الفرق العسكرية وبعض الرموز من وحدات القوات المسلحة أمام المسجد وعلى جانبي الطرق المؤدية إليه، إلى جانب جمع غفير من المواطنين.
وشهدت الطرق المؤدية إلى مدينة نصر، تواجدا مكثفا من أفراد الشرطة العسكرية والمدنية قبيل بدء مراسم الجنازة في الوقت الذي قام فيه رجال الإدارة العامة لمرور القاهرة بإغلاق طريق النصر باتجاه الأوتوستراد، كما تم إقامة سرادق العزاء بجانب قبر الجندي المجهول.
وكانت قوات الشرطة العسكرية والأمن اتخذت إجراءات أمنية مشددة بمحيط مسجد آل رشدان، وتواجد العشرات من أهالي الشهداء في حالة انهيار تام، انتظارا للجنازة العسكرية ونقل جثامين الشهداء إلى مثواهم الأخير بمحافظاتهم عبر الطائرات الحربية.
يذكر أن «هجوم سيناء» قد وقع، مساء الأحد، على كمين «قرية الحرية» بالقرب من معبر كرم أبو سالم الحدودي وأسفر عن مقتل 16 جنديا وإصابة 7 ضباط وأفراد من القوات المسلحة والشرطة.
مراسل «الجزائر نيوز» محمود أبو بكر / القاهرة
