9.7-inch Apple iPad Pro to have a 12 Megapixel Camera with 4K Video Recording

March 1, 2016

Apple’s forthcoming 9.7-inch iPad Pro will feature a major difference from its 12.9-inch counterpart. 9To5Mac has reported that the sources having access to the in-house prototypes of the 9.7” iPad Pro have asserted that the tablet will feature a 12MP back snapper.

The 12MP rear sensor is said to be the same as the one sported by the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus. Notably, the current 12.9” iPad Pro packs in an 8MP back camera.

Since the forthcoming variant of the iPad Pro is way smaller than the 12.9” version, the new version appears to be better suited for video shooting and photography.

In addition, the latest speculations also suggest that the current smaller iPad Pro may even be able to support 4K video recording.

It might be that Apple is trying to perfect the image capturing and video recording features of its new slate. Thus, we might even see this aspect being prominently featured by the company in its campaign for the device.

At present, it is being purported that the latest 9.7” iPad Pro will feature quite a similar functionality as the 12.9” variant, which apparently implies that it will pack in the same sort of smart connector, making it adaptable to the latest smaller variant of the Smart keyboard.

In addition, some rumors also imply that Apple might launch the latest model of its Apple Pencil along with 9.7-inch iPad Pro.

However, the new Apple Pencil will most likely only feature a distinct color option instead of any significant modifications in its functionality.

It has also been suggested earlier that the 9.7” iPad Pro will be powered by A9X processor and an enhanced brighter display with anti-glare features. Thus far, there have no reports to deny these leaks.

Apple 9.7-inch iPad Pro is rumored to be unveiled during the company’s forthcoming event which is to be held on 21^st of March.

First Biological Supercomputer unveiled

Emmanuel

February 29, 2016

Canadian scientists have created a biological supercomputer that can process information very quickly and accurately using parallel networks just like massive electronic supercomputers do.

According to reports the supercomputer is a whole lot smaller than current supercomputers, burns much less energy, and uses proteins present in all living cells to function.

The model of bio supercomputer was created by an international team of researchers led by professor Dan Nicolau from Canada’s McGill University.

According to professor Nicolau, he began working on the idea with his son, Dan Jr., more than a decade ago and was then joined by colleagues from Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands, some seven years ago.

“This started as a back of an envelope idea, after too much rum I think, with drawings of what looked like small worms exploring mazes,” he said.

The model bio-supercomputer uses a combination of geometrical modelling and engineering knowhow on the nano scale. Its circuit looks a bit like a road map of a busy and very organised city as seen from a plane.

Instead of the electrons that are propelled by an electrical charge and move around within a traditional microchip, short strings of proteins, which the researchers call biological agents, travel around the circuit in a controlled way. Their movements are powered by ATP, the chemical that is regarded as the juice of life of every living thing.

The model bio supercomputer is not only small, just about the same size as a book, but also uses the same mathematical capabilities as conventional, giant-sized supercomputers.

In addition, it is very energy-efficient and doesn’t overheat like its non-biological counterparts, making it more sustainable.

The researchers believe a more complete version may be on the cards, with the help of hybridization technology.

“One option for dealing with larger and more complex problems may be to combine our device with a conventional computer to form a hybrid device. Right now we’re working on a variety of ways to push the research further,” Nicolai said.

Raspberry Pi 3 with 64-bit quad-core SoC announced

Jia Khan

February 29, 2016

The Raspberry Pi Foundation has announced the third variant of its famous Raspberry Pi development platform, called the Raspberry Pi 3. The latest device carries a price tag of $35.

The price tag of the new device is the same as the price of the Raspberry Pi 2 which was launched last year. Compared with Raspberry Pi 2, the Pi 3 packs in more features such as Bluetooth and integrated WiFi.

The former trustee and founder of the Raspberry Pi Foundation, Eben Upton reported in a blog post that the new release celebrates the company’s fourth birthday.

Eben Upton also specified that the company had already shipped around 8 million units including 3 million Pi 2 units as well.

The company has also claimed Pi 2 to be the best-selling computer in the UK.

Raspberry Pi 3 will hit the markets on Monday. The company has announced that they will be employing the same 32-bit userland that they had applied to the previous generation Raspberry PCs.

Nonetheless, this decision is not final and is subject to further inspections in coming days. The company might even decide to shift to 64-bit mode.

Under the hood, Pi 3 features a quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 processor clocked at 1.2GHz. The company has claimed that the new processing unit encapsulates 10x the performance of the Pi 1 and Pi 2 versions.

In spite of the same pricing as Pi 2, the Raspberry Pi 3 sports integrated 802.11n wireless LAN and Bluetooth 4.1. The device will also be compatible with both the Pi 1 and Pi 2 models.

According to Upton,

“The 900MHz 32-bit quad-core ARM Cortex-A7 CPU complex has been replaced by a custom-hardened 1.2GHz 64-bit quad-core ARM Cortex-A53. Combining a 33% increase in clock speed with various architectural enhancements, this provides a 50-60% increase in performance in 32-bit mode versus Raspberry Pi 2, or roughly a factor of ten over the original Raspberry Pi.”

Refreshed Mercedes-Benz E Class sedan launches in India

Emmanuel

February 25, 2016

German car maker Mercedes-Benz has launched a refreshed version of the E-Class Sedan in India to mark 20 years of unhindered production in the Asian country.

Christened as the Edition E, the luxury sedan has the unique distinction of being the first luxury car to be ‘Made in India’.

“We began in 1995 with the W 124 and the E-Class with the elliptical headlamps entered production for the first time in 1997,” Roland Folger, Managing Director and CEO, Mercedes-Benz India said, calling the sedan the “heart and soul,” of the company’s portfolio.
“The E-Class which was the first luxury sedan to be produced by Mercedes-Benz for the Indian market, also kick started our journey in India. There are to date around 32,000 units of the car on Indian roads,” he added.

The Edition E sports some new features which are improvements over its two decade old sibling.

Amongst these new features are higher safety systems (8 airbags and a preventive occupant protection system is standard), adaptive brake lights and an intelligent light system that adapts light distribution as per the driving situation.

“The launch of the Edition E strongly underlines our strategy of periodically refreshing our existing best-selling products, enabling to win customer confidence and offer them value driven products,” said.

The E 200 Edition E is priced at Rs. 48.60 lakh (that’s about 14 million Naira), the E 250 CDI Edition E at Rs. 50.76 lakh (around 14.7 million Naira) and the E 350 CDI Edition E has a Rs. 60.61 lakh (around 17.6 million naira) price tag. All prices are ex-showroom Pune.

The three editions will be the production model for the E-Class till the next generation of what is the German luxury car maker’s best selling model is launched in 2017.

The auto firm also launched a ‘Wish upon a Star’ campaign to commemorate the two decade journey of the E-Class in the country.

The campaign will invite audiences to express their wishes around the E-Class, through a digital application, a dedicated micro-site and even at specially created wishing booths across Mercedes Benz dealerships.

“The most heartfelt, the most unique and the most creative wishes may just be heard by Mercedes-Benz India and fulfilled,” Folger said.

Cheki Nigeria launches virtual showroom for brand new cars

Emmanuel

February 25, 2016

Nigeria’s popular online auto marketplace, Cheki, has launched a virtual showroom for brand new vehicles on their website.

The virtual showroom contains all necessary information about brand new cars from Cheki. There’s a brief description about the new vehicles on the page.

Users get to know the specs, pricing detail and other vital information about the vehicles. Users can also take advantage of warranties, servicing and even book test drives before making any purchases via the virtual showroom.

Although Cheki promised a 360-degree virtual tour of all the featured vehicles in the brand new section, the feature is still a work in progress at the moment. Country Manager of Cheki, Tomi Hodonu, expressed excitement about the new virtual showroom.

“We at Cheki are very excited to announce the Brand New Cars virtual showroom” he said.
“This innovation was borne out of the need to give our clients a select service that directly meets their specific automobile needs, and enable them to make well informed purchase decisions regarding brand new cars,” he added.

Established in 2010, Cheki’s main value proposition has been to provide a platform for users to buy and sell used cars. In addition to this, it is a market place for buyers and sellers of auto spare parts to meet and do business.

There’s also a car insurance section on the Cheki site. However the firm has now expanded their offerings to include brand new cars from accredited dealers in a masterstroke business decision.

Now that they’ve cultivated a rather large audience, asides from the usual used cars business, Cheki can now begin to sell access to that audience to car dealers, hence the launch of the brand new cars’ virtual showroom.

Their first partnership is with West African conglomerate, Stallion Group, to provide a wide array of Volkswagen cars. It’s expected they’ll partner with more auto dealers in the near future as things go on.

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Scientists Develop Cell That Can Chemically Store Solar Power

Emmanuel

February 24, 2016

A team of scientists has developed a way to chemically store solar energy. The team designed a photo-electrochemical cell that does this amazing feat even at high temperatures.

There are numerous ways of storing energy from the sun. Plants naturally can absorb sunlight and store its energy chemically.

However, imitating this on a large industrial scale is difficult. Photovoltaics on the other hand can convert the energy from sunlight to electricity, but the efficiency of the solar cells at high temperatures decreases.

The researchers from the Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien) were able to solve this problem by combining high temperature photovoltaics with an electrochemical cell. This allows ultraviolet light to be directly used to pump oxygen ions through a solid oxide electrolyte and the energy of the UV light is stored chemically.

“This would allow us to concentrate sunlight with mirrors and build large-scale plants with a high rate of efficiency”, said Georg Brunauer a member of the team.

The team managed to assemble a cell by using special metal oxides – so-called perovskites – instead of the ordinary silicon based photovoltaics.

“Our cell consists of two different parts – a photoelectric part on top and an electrochemical part below. In the upper layer, ultraviolet light creates free charge carriers, just like in a standard solar cell,” he added.

The electrons in this layer are immediately removed and travel to the bottom layer of the electrochemical cell.

Once there, these electrons are used to ionize oxygen to negative oxygen ions, which can then travel through a membrane in the electrochemical part of the cell.

“This is the crucial photoelectrochemical step, which we hope will lead to the possibility of splitting water and producing hydrogen,” Brunauer noted.

In its first evolution step, the photoelectrochemical cell works as a UV-light driven oxygen pump. It yields an open-current voltage of up to 920 millivolts at a temperature of 400 degrees Celsius.

The cell was recently presented in the Advanced Functional Materials journal. It looks promising and will solve a lot of energy problems if perfected.

NASA touts new Laser Propulsion System that’ll take men to Mars in 3 days

Emmanuel

February 24, 2016

Researchers at American space agency, NASA, are working on a new laser propulsion system which they say will take men to Mars in just 3 days.

As things stand, it will take humans an average of five to six months to reach the surface of the Red Planet.

However, NASA researchers are now working on a new laser technology to propel spacecraft with giant sails to Mars in just three days. The new “photonic propulsion” system relies on the momentum of photons – particles of light – to move forward.

But instead of photons from the Sun’s rays, the design from NASA scientist Philip Lubin will involve a push by giant Earth-based lasers to the spacecraft. According to Lubin, the technology is very much readily available and the system can easily be scaled up.

“There is no known reason why we can’t do this. There is a roadmap which you can look at in our paper to relativistic flight. The system is completely scalable modularly, built to any size you want from a tiny one to a gigantic one,” he said.

Lubin agrees that the technology shouldn’t immediately be used on a Mars mission. He suggests instead it be used on a wafer-thin spacecraft that would be equipped with integrated optical communications, optical systems and sensors combined with directed energy propulsion.

Lubin and his team have received a proof of concept grant from NASA to demonstrate the system could work. He is already dreaming of sending probes to the outermost part of the universe.

“We could propel a 100 kilogram robotic craft to Mars in a few days. If you want to push something like shuttle class, it takes you roughly in order of month to get there,” he said.
“Within 25 year light of Earth, there are actually quite a few potential exoplanets and habitable things to visit – that may be habitable. We don’t know of course. There are many targets to choose from. The closest is Alpha Centauri, which is about four light years away,” he added.

Volvo cars to stop using keys from 2017

Emmanuel

February 19, 2016

Volvo have announced plans to become the world’s first company to produce cars without keys from the year 2017.

The cars instead will use a Bluetooth-enabled digital key technology which will allow owners to do everything a physical key currently does.

Basic car operations such as locking or unlocking the doors or the boot and allowing the engine to be started will be carried out using the new Volvo app, the firm said.

This will also give car owners the possibility to receive more than one digital key on their app, allowing them to access different Volvo cars in different locations, Volvo added.

“Using the app people could potentially book and pay for a rental car anywhere in the world and have the digital car key delivered to their phone immediately. On arrival a customer could simply locate the rental car via GPS, unlock it and drive away, avoiding those frustrating queues at airport or train station car rental desks,” Volvo said.

The firm hopes to pilot this technology in spring 2016 via its car sharing firm Sunfleet, in Sweden. Volvo said the new technology will be shown for the first time at the Mobile World Congress 2016 in Barcelona at the Ericsson booth.

It added that a limited number of cars with this technology are expected to be commercially available in 2017. The firm also said that physical keys will continue to be offered for people who want them.

Volvo’s Vice President Product Strategy & Vehicle Line Management, Henrik Greenm said the auto makers are out to make life better for its customers.

“At Volvo we are not interested in technology for the sake of technology. New technology has to make our customers’ lives easier and save them time. Mobility needs are evolving and so are our customers’ expectation to access cars in an uncomplicated way.Our innovative digital key technology has the potential to completely change how a Volvo can be accessed and shared. Instead of sitting idle in a parking lot the entire day, cars could be used more often and efficiently by whoever the owner wishes,” he said.

NASA to unravel secrets of Dark Energy & Dark Matter with new WFIRST Telescope

Emmanuel

February 19, 2016

American space agency, NASA, in a bid to unravel the secrets of the universe, has announced that it will build a new, wider telescope which will have a view 100 times bigger than that of the Hubble Space Telescope.

The new telescope is named the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST), and is slated to be launched in the mid-2020s.

WFIRST is NASA’s next major astrophysics observatory, following the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope in 2018.

The observatory will help unravel the secrets of dark energy and dark matter and explore the evolution of the universe.

It will also help discover new worlds outside our solar system and advance the search for worlds that could be suitable for life.

The WFIRST will begin operations after travelling to a gravitational balance point known as “Earth-Sun L2” which is located about one million miles from Earth in a direction directly opposite the Sun.

The observatory will survey large regions of the sky in near-infrared light to answer fundamental questions about the structure and evolution of the universe.

It will carry a Wide Field Instrument for surveys and also a Coronagraph Instrument designed to block the glare of individual stars and reveal the faint light of planets orbiting around them.

By blocking the light of the host star, the Coronagraph Instrument will enable detailed measurements of the chemical makeup of planetary atmospheres.

Comparing these data across many worlds will allow scientists to better understand the origin and physics of these atmospheres, and search for chemical signs of environments suitable for life.

“WFIRST has the potential to open our eyes to the wonders of the universe, much the same way Hubble has,”

said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington, DC.

“This mission uniquely combines the ability to discover and characterize planets beyond our own solar system with the sensitivity and optics to look wide and deep into the universe in a quest to unravel the mysteries of dark energy and dark matter,” he explained in a statement.

Jaguar F-Type range topper debuts March 2016

Emmanuel

February 17, 2016

Jaguar has announced that it will unveil the SVR high-performance version of its F-Type two-seat model on the 1^st of March 2016 in Geneva.

The F-Type SVR is expected to become the brand’s fastest and most powerful production road car. The vehicle will be available as a coupe and convertible, and features an upgraded suspension, a titanium exhaust, ceramic brakes and forged wheels.

The car will compete directly with the Porsche 911 and will go on sale around July with prices starting at $125,950 (that’s about 25.2 million naira) for the coupe and $128,800 (that’s around 28 million naira) for the convertible. Order books are open now ahead of the car’s debut next month.

The vehicle sports an upgraded supercharged 5.0-liter V-8 700Nm torque engine which develops 567 hp, up from 542 hp in the R model, the current fastest F-Type.

The Jaguar F-Type SVR accelerates to 60 mph in 3.5 seconds or from 0 to 62 mph in 3.7 seconds. The coupe’s top speed is 200 mph and the convertible’s is 195 mph.

Inside, there’s an updated steering wheel with aluminium shift paddles and seats with a quilted leather finish. The dashboard features contrast stitching, and the seats are unique to the SVR model.

The Jaguar F-Type SVR also sports a few aerodynamic upgrades over the standard car. There are new air inlets at the front, along with an upgraded splitter and more vents to allow bigger quantities of air into the new cooling system.

There’s also a revised diffuser, an active rear wing at the rear and a flat underfloor for better aerodynamics.

That rear wing can reduce lift by up to 80 per cent, but to reach that impressive 200mph top speed it needs to be lowered to make the car more slippery.

The wheels are wider and lighter, allowing for bigger tyres to be fitted to improve grip. Carbon-ceramic brakes feature on the SVR to reduce weight by 21kg and are joined by stiffer suspension for better cornering ability.

Carbon-ceramic brakes are fitted as well to improve the car’s braking ability on track. The upgraded titanium exhaust system results in a 12kg weight saving as well as giving the SVR a unique exhaust note.

The vehicle is the latest product from Jaguar Land Rover’s Special Vehicle Operations division which was established in 2014 to create high-performance and bespoke vehicles for wealthier customers.

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