"Google Glass" the most hotly-anticipated gadget to hit the market by 2013 end

This can blow your mind up, Google the giant is all set and ready to go! Google glass eye wear will be available in the market by the end of 2013 for less than $1,500. Google originally targeted 2014 for a consumer release when it revealed Project Glass last year, but the time frame has seemingly sped up in recent months. The advancement of Google Glass also seems to coincide with recent rumors that the company is planning to open retail stores, presumably where consumers could get more familiar with products like Glass, and comfortable with the idea of wearing the funky rims on their face.

It has also been confirmed that Glass will be able to connect via Bluetooth to both Android phones and the iPhone. Glass can pull down data from wifi or use the 3G or 4G feed from a connected phone, but it won't have its own cellular radio.

Here, we've showcased 8 top-notch features Google Glass is endowed with. 

Read More: "Google Glass" the most hotly-anticipated gadget to hit the market by 2013  NEXT

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5 top-notch technology predictions for India in 2013

The year Mayans predicted to be the last in the history of mankind, indeed was a great year for technology and the internet in India. We've witnessed a substantial rise in the number of people shopping online or networking. Many of us even made our first true e-commerce purchase with cash on delivery, and many more will make theirs in 2013. Another key breakthrough was the advent of lower-cost smartphones gradually making their mark in the market is finally happening.

Overall, things have changed in the fields of technology for India in due course of time. Mindset of both the buyers and manufacturers have reached a whole new different level. The height of competition breaking in the market is immense and the heat to outsmart one-another will force a lot of companies shut down. Entrepreneurship will not be as fashionable a career choice as it has been over the past two years. Only the strong will survive through this phase and those that will survive and emerge will be the real winners.

So, here goes our list of technology predictions for 2013:

E-commerce!
E-commerce will positively grow in India, in terms of revenue, but not all firms will achieve profitability as per the survey. The companies that have big slick financing and investors for the long term will survive but the others won’t. We'll see a lot of the smaller invested e-commerce companies either becoming lifestyle businesses or simply shutting shop this year. 

Not just phones but Smartphones!
With 2012 ends an era of peculiar cellphones. Smartphone penetration will continue to increase. Obviously, iPhones will still have a presence and will continue to be the envy of many, but with the high price point. While BlackBerry still continues to have a presence in India, with BB 10. Those carrying a BlackBerry in their pocket will not be embarrassed to even own one – but then again, it might be considered a ‘retro’ trend.

Rise & fall of TABLETS

There will be a flurry of cheap tablets that will be released this year and everybody will be running to get one. And why wouldn’t you, especially when they will be cheaper than a nice mobile phone. But this trend won't last long cause afterwards, many will discover that these low-cost tablets don’t work so well and will either give them to their kids to play games with or to their parents to watch videos on. If you are going to buy a tablet, make sure it is one of quality.

Social activism
Facebook has turned out to be the best platform provided when it comes to organizing people whatever maybe the cause. Twitter has also grown as youth in india is getting accustomed to tweeting & will continue to grow for social and political causes.

In 2013, we will have an incident where the Indian government will censor and/or ban social media for a certain time. But as per the predictions, this will start a trend where internet regulation will begin. Politically, you will begin to see political parties to be aggressively using the internet for campaigning. With the national elections in 2014, might we see our next Prime Minister on Twitter?

Cybercrime

With age comes wisdom, but its different when it comes to hackers around here. Internet fraud will witness a whole new level of nuisance and although you will not hear about it much, it’s going to be something everybody is discussing behind closed doors. E-commerce companies, banks, payment gateways and others in the ecosystem will be clear casualties. Despite the increase in cybercrime, we won’t be seeing or hearing of any major arrest.

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Rivalry Unleashed -- Samsung's Galaxy Altius Smart Watch screenshots leaked

The two giants in the market Samsung and Apple just can't wait to give hard time to one another. Right after the rumors of Apple iWatch that created a buzz in the market recently is now accompanied by a series of leaked screens purported to have come from Samsung's own smart watch. The screens, which were spied by SlashGear on a Korean message board, indicate that the device will be called the Samsung Galaxy Altius.

The pictures of the new Samsung Galaxy smart watch come hot on the heels of Apple’s iWatch rumors. The move by Samsung to develop its own smart watch should not surprise consumers. The company is Apple’s biggest competitor, and the Galaxy now accounts for a majority of Android device sales.

It isn't clear yet what OS the watch is running, though, as other smart watch makers have proven, a modified version of Android isn't too hard to pull off. That said, Samsung could have chosen to develop its own in-house OS for the watch.

As SlashGear points out, the screenshots appear to show the device connected to the Korean SK Telecom mobile carrier, meaning the Altius could include its own data connection. Other screens show a music player, a clock and what seems to be a map app.

The smart watch's storage space appears to be limited to just 235MB, which could mean that the device will connect to a smartphone via Bluetooth tethering to transmit phone calls or music. Based on the screenshots, it also looks as though the Altius will feature a 500 x 500 pixel resolution display.

In a slight twist, SlashGear notes that this isn't the first time we've seen the Altius name connected to a Samsung device. The name was previously reported to be used as a code name for the company's upcoming Galaxy S IV. Whether the two devices will be tied to each other somehow, remains to be seen.

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Get ready for Gen-next 'Transparent smartphone' to debut by the end of 2013!

Last year we witnessed some outstanding work in the field of smartphones. Giants like Samsung, Apple etc gave each other a cut-throat competition and yet it seems there's no stopping in the line-up for who's the best in 2013 too. It may be hard to believe but yes this is true in a revolutionary development, a Taiwanese company claims to have developed a gen-next transparent mobile phone which it says will be in the market by the year end. The company, Polytron Technologies, has already begun marketing a transparent multi-touch phone. Its prototype uses a 'Switchable Glass' technology.

That is a conductive Organic light-emitting diode (OLED) using liquid crystal molecules to display images, the 'Daily Mail' reported.

When the phone is in off mode, the molecules align to form a milky composition, but when switched on they re-align to form text, icons, and other images. Electric current is carried through transparent wires. "It will happen near the end of 2013. Trust me," said Polytron general manager Sam Yu.

The device still contains some parts that are not transparent, including a SD card and SIM card. The microphone, camera, and batteries are also visible, and will be hidden behind a dark glass cover when the model goes into production.
The company, according to Yu, will develop a smaller lithium ion battery that would be much less noticeable. When complete, the phone will have a dual-sided multi-touch display in front and back.

The prototype phone has yet to feature any software or operating system, the report said. A Japanese company recently used a transparent liquid crystal display (LCD) in its wristwatch but had trouble adding hardware to the smaller frame.

"The challenge of using a transparent display in a wristwatch, and I suppose other wearable technology, is that you need to store the batteries somewhere else (usually they are stored behind the LCD panel)," Tokyoflash marketing manager Paul Cooper said.

It remains to be seen whether the phone's transparency by itself will attract buyers, as the prototype does not offer significantly different functions than most smartphones.
"Display quality is paramount," Avi Greengart, research director at Current Analysis, told The Verge.

"If the display quality is not up to par with the best of today's AMOLED and LCD screens, a phone using it won't sell even for its novelty value," said Greengar

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Sony's next generation full HD smartphone Xperia Z coming soon in India

We're barely a few days into 2013 but that hasn't stopped smartphones from being announced. Word from Sony about the official launch of the Xperia Z on Wednesday 20 February popped up on the company's Facebook page. The smartphone will go on sale at the Sony Store from 21st onwards.              After the launch of BB10 along with its two new assets Z10 & Q10 its time for Sony to capture the stage. Sony has invited Australian technology media today for an event in Sydney to launch their 4G-capable flagship, "Sony Mobile invites you to an intimate lunch to launch the new Xperia Z smartphone," reads the invitation. First announced at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas last month, there appears to be a genuine buzz about this device.

Here we showcase some of Sony's flagship Z eye-catching features.

Read More: Sony's next generation full HD smartphone Xperia Z coming soon in India  NEX

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Artificial Intelligence set to become the new way of life

LITERALLY speaking, Artificial Intelligence (A. I.) is a branch of science that deals with helping machines in finding solutions to complex problems in a more human-like fashion. This generally involves borrowing characteristics from human intelligence and applying them as algorithms in a computer friendly way.

A flexible or efficient approach can be taken depending on the requirements, which influences how artificial the intelligent behaviour appears.

Computer Science, but it has many important links with other fields such as Maths, Psychology, Cognition, Biology and Philosophy, among many others. It popularly believed among scientists that our ability to combine knowledge from all these fields will ultimately benefit our progress in the quest for creating an intelligent artificial being.

This branch of learning was discussed at length at the international conference Extrapianism: Towards Convergence of Human Values and Technology, ICECHVT 2013’, an initiative taken by the School of Engineering and Technology, Ansal University, Gurgaon.

The conference focussed on how when it comes to making complex judgement calls, computers can’t still replace people. But with artificial intelligence, computers could be trained to think like humans do.

Prof. Shampa Chakraverty, Head, Division of Computer Engineering at Netaji Subhash Institute of Technology threw more light on the subject.

A. I. involves emulating higher levels of human intelligence such as making decisions despite incomplete/ partial information and in the presence of approximate, imprecise and fuzzy understanding of the real world, which is further subject to continuous changes,” she said.

Chakraverty added that creativity is the source of all innovations, especially in A. I. “A. I.- driven technological approach comes from nature’s unique methods to find solutions to difficult problems like complex scheduling, market prediction, understanding the sentiments in voice/ text/ video etc. Creativity comes from being a keen observer of nature’s processes,” Chakraverty said.

Traditionally, the source of A. I. comes from studying engineering of various disciplines.

It is creativity and the pulse of innovation that make a difference. “Creativity also comes from recognising problems in everyday life and combining well- known and innovative techniques to solve them — wonderful apps have been developed this way. Students can, thus, explore nature to gain insights and explore rural and urban society to recognise where problems exist and can be solved,” Prof. Chakraverty said.

Debates about the social impact of creating intelligent machines have occupied people for decades. Opinions differ about the extent to which we should make machines intelligent and what these machines should look like.

The clash between A. I. and human values or rationality is also quite evident. Dr. Alok K Kushwaha, Professor and Associate Dean, School of Engineering and Technology at Ansal University said: “ Through research we know that technology is of great help to us, but lack of human values in this area pose ethical risks. So until we are able to converge human values with technology, a natural end seems unlikely,” he concluded.

Article Source: Mail Today

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