Pollution Levels At Your Fingertips

Pollution is invisible and knowing how much is around you is not always easy. But a new system called Citisense, which consists of a mobile air quality sensor and smartphone app, could one day give people real-time information about the air around them.
"Asthmatics, who number in the millions, would find this valuable to their immediate health," said William Griswold, a computer science professor at UC San Diego, who lead the group that developed the system. "What we found is that people are very interested in their personal exposure, even if they are not asthmatic."
The system, which is still in the research stages, has a mobile sensor that a person wears while walking or biking around a city. The sensor detects the levels of pollutants in the air and sends the information to a server that uses machine learning to analyze the information for the app. Users with the app can see maps that display levels of pollutants, estimates of a user's exposure to those pollutants as well as a color-coded scale for air quality that uses EPA standards, i.e. green for good and purple for bad.

NEWS: See How Purchases Directly Impact Climate Change

The sensors were tested for four weeks by 30 people all over San Diego, most of them faculty at the university. According to the press release, one tester found that she was exposed the most to pollutants while she rode her bike to work.
Griswold said in the release that, “The people who are doing the most to reduce emissions, by biking or taking the bus, were the people who experienced the highest levels of exposure to pollutants.” The field tests also found that pollution levels varied throughout the day, depending on variables like traffic.
For the most part, the sensors are mobile and proximity to them is necessary for the app to receive data. However, Griswold said in an email to Discovery News that if enough sensors were put out into an area, personal sensors wouldn't be necessary to receive feedback on the pollutants nearby. "With the machine-learning component in the backend," he said, "it will be possible to get an estimate of your exposure from the machine learning estimates, even if you don't have a sensor."
Toward the end of the testing phase, a few fixed sensors were tested, but Griswold said that they didn't affect the user experience enough to continue.
One of the hurdles facing the project now is battery life. The data exchanges between the sensors and mobile devices takes up a lot of power. When testing, users had to carry around two chargers, one for the sensor and one for the smartphone. Currently, the team is experimenting with replacing constant updates by spacing out times when data is transferred to every 15 minutes to save battery life, or making it a transfer that occurs on demand.
Griswold said in an email that sensors like this will be start appearing on mobile phones in about a decade or so.

Unlock Your Door With ShareKey

 

The Android app communicates with smart locks on one’s door via NFC.

In the last year, I’ve locked myself out of my home no less than three times. Consequentially, that’s resulted in me having to shimmy through open windows like a burglar. I’m surprised my neighbors never called the cops on me.
If only I had ShareKey, a near field communication (NFC) app for a smartphone, I could have avoided all the breaking and entering.
Developed by Dr. Ahmad-Reza Sadeghi of Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Secure Information Technology (SIT), the Android app communicates with smartlocks on one’s door via NFC, which allows data to be exchanged wirelessly over a short range. To lock or unlock the door, simply wave the phone near the lock.
Unlike systems such as Lockitron and UniKey that use Wi-Fi and Bluetooth to send instructions remotely, ShareKey requires that a phone be physically waved in front of their locks, making it more difficult for hackers to steal the signal.
Better yet, the system allows for any smartphone to be granted access to the doors for a specified amount of time, be it a few hours or a few weeks. House guests, dog walkers and plant waterers all know what a three-ring circus it can be swapping keys and getting them made, so this feature is an added bonus. ShareKey can send these “electronic keys” directly to the recipient’s smartphone as a QR code via email or a multimedia text message.
“For instance, I can grant the building superintendent access to my apartment
for a short period so that he can open the door for the gas meter to be
read while I’m at work,” explains Alexandra Dmitrienko from the SIT.
“The solution is built around modern security technologies and can be
easily integrated into existing access control systems.”
At this year’s CeBIT trade fair in Hannover, Germany,
researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Secure Information
Technology SIT in Darmstadt will demo ShareKey in an attempt to drum up interest in hopes that it will be on the market soon.

Apple Patents Smart Shoes

As “smart” technologies continue to consume just about every aspect of our lives — from eating and doing laundry to turning on the lights and saving ourselves from drunken blackouts — you’d think we’re incapable of functioning in world without a device negotiating our every move.

But as someone who’s prone to wearing a pair shoes or boots until they fall apart, perhaps I’m in need of more smart interventions than I think. It seems Apple may have a foot in the door for doing so, especially on the heels of their recent patent application for “smart shoes.”
Rather than being equipped with a external tracker, the shoes would contain wear-out sensors that would alert you via Wi-Fi when it was time to get some new kicks.
“As a shoe wears, physical support provided by the shoe decreases, thereby reducing associated protection from injury,” the patent states. “When a critical wear level is reached, even if the shoe looks like it is not particularly worn, the shoe may not provide adequate support and may, in fact, cause damage to feet.”
 
The sensor, which would connect to your iOS device, would exist either as a thin layer built in to the sole or be located in the heel.
“In one embodiment, a shoe wear out sensor includes at least one detector for sensing a physical metric that changes as a shoe wears out, a processor configured to process the physical metric, over time, to determine if the shoe is worn out, and an alarm for informing a user of the shoe when the sole is worn out,” states the patent.
Considering Apple’s savvy for design, I’d be interested to see what’s on the drawing board, if in fact these are stand-alone shoes. After all, this pair could use a little work.
 
Photo: A pair of vintage white sneakers that were part of Apple’s line of employee-exclusive clothing.

HTC 29 Jan, 2013Butterfly launched in India for Rs 45,990

HTC has confirmed long-time rumours by launching its flagship smartphone, the HTC Butterfly, in India. The world’s first smartphone with a 1080p display, the Butterfly's 5-inch Super LCD 3 touchscreen has a whopping pixel density of 441 ppi. The native resolution of the display is a phenomenal 1920 x 1080 pixels. This is the first full HD phone to be released in India and will cost you Rs 45,990.

HTC Butterfly with 5-inch 1080p display here at last

The HTC Butterfly runs on a 1.5GHz Qualcomm S4 Pro quad-core processor, and has 2GB of RAM. It has 16GB of internal storage, which is expandable by up to 32GB via microSD cards.

The smartphone runs on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, but the HTC Sense 4+ software overlay hides most of the stock interface. The smartphone has an 8 megapixel rear shooter and a 2 megapixel front camera with HTC’s ImageChip on board. The HTC Butterfly is powered by a non-removable 2,020mAh battery, which seems like it wouldn’t be able to last long thanks to the full HD display, but we will have to wait for further tests before concluding on the matter.

"HTC Butterfly is quite simply the most stunning smartphone HTC has created to date, with a display that people will fall in love with instantly,” said Faisal Siddiqui, Country Head, HTC India. "It offers the best experience in terms of performance, design and innovation, and is our most eagerly anticipated smartphone with rave reviews from media and consumers alike."

The smartphone will be available in retail stores later this month. Note that the device will need a Micro-SIM card.

The highlighted specifications of the HTC Butterfly are:

• 5-inch Super LCD 3 1920x1080p display with Corning Gorilla Glass 2 (441 ppi)
• LTE, 3G, HSPA+
• Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspot, NFC
• GPS with A-GPS support and GLONASS
• Bluetooth 4.0 with A2DP
• 8 megapixel rear camera with LED flash, 2 megapixel front camera
• 16GB internal storage, expandable by up to 32GB via microSD
• HDMI out, microUSB

The Butterfly was first unveiled in October 2012 and started selling in Australia and Europe earlier this month. It is available in the USA as the HTC Droid DNA (with some modifications) through Verizon, and in Japan as the HTC Butterfly J.

HTC is said to be working on another flagship smartphone, the HTC M7, which will also have a 1080p display on a 4.7-inch screen. Information about the M7 has been leaked extensively over the past few months, with the latest video showing the handset’s housing. The M7 is expected to be announced at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, next month.

Dual-core iBall Andi 4.5q with Jelly Bean unveiled

iBall has joined the line of low-cost manufacturers offering value-for-money, high-spec devices. iBall's newest offering is the iBall Andi 4.5q, which runs Android 4.1, Jelly Bean.

The Andi4.5q is powered by a dual-core 1GHz Cortex A9 processor and has 512MB of RAM. The 4.5-inch qHD screen has a pixel density of 245 ppi and a resolution of 960 x 540 pixels. Thanks to the Jelly Bean experience, the 4.5q comes with Google Now pre-installed, so you'll receive weather and traffic updates regularly. You can use Google Now’s voice functionality to get quick results for any query, besides routine sports and stock updates.

The iBall Andi 4.5q will run Jelly Bean

The dual-SIM handset has an 8 megapixel auto-focus camera with LED flash and a front-facing camera. The company is bundling a dual cover and a free scratch guard with every handset. The connectivity options include Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS and 3G, along with a micro USB slot. The iBall Andi 4.5q is priced at Rs 11,490.

However, iBall’s latest device falls short of the quad-core handsets, Karbonn S1 Titanium and Micromax’s A116 Canvas HD, which bring better specs for a similar price. In fact, the 4.5q seems like a small refresh of the iBall Andi 4.5H, which was introduced late last year.

 The iBall Andi 4.5H also has a qHD display, a dual-core 1GHz Cortex A9 processor, 1GB of RAM and 4GB of internal storage. The 4.5H supports 3G video calling and comes with pre-installed apps, including WhatsApp, Facebook, Opera Mini, Nimbuzz, Zomato, IBNLive, Moneycontrol and CricketNext.

Here's a look at the iBall Andi 4.5H's specification:

• 4.5-inch IPS display, 960 X 540 resolution
• 3G, EDGE, Wi-Fi
• GPS and A-GPS
• Bluetooth
• 8MP rear camera with LED flash
• 4GB Flash memory expandable up to 32GB via microSD

Prior to this, the company launched the Andi 4.3j, a dual-battery Android smartphone for Rs 9,499 in October 2012, and a 5-inch phablet, the Andi 5c, for Rs 12,999 in August 2012. The Andi 5c runs Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and is powered by a 1GHz Cortex A9 processor. The 5-inch IPS screen is its standout feature. The camera on the back is a 5 megapixel one, while the 2300 mAh battery should provide enough juice to last you through the day.

Mitashi MiE032v08 HDTV Review

PRICE IN INDIA

29,990

TECHNOLUVERZ RATING

7.5

 

However much we try to neglect, we have a prevalent prejudice against budget products. It is believed that these products, in order to adhere to cost constraints, compromise on the quality and performance front. And with our past experience, we agree with this school of thought to an extent. But there are some brands that have managed to break through this common belief and Mitashi is definitely one of them—particularly with its newly formed flat panel division. Last year, Mitashi was among the top performers in the budget flat panel section and was an obvious candidate this year as well. We reviewed its latest 32” LED from the v08 series.  

Out of the box
The first place where budget manufacturers can cut corners is in aesthetics and Mitashi has done this quite effectively. While the MiE032v08 does not boast of a crystal design or a monolith shape, Mitashi has still managed to retain a presentable look that can go well with any interior set-up. The MiE032v08 is a perfect fit for small rooms or as a second TV (in a guest room or for the kids). The matte finish makes it less prone to scratches and also easy to clean. The build quality is up to the mark with the TV fitting snugly on the stand. And with the light weight, we don’t think that mounting it on the wall should be a problem.

Not bad in terms of dimensions

Technology
The 32” MiE032v08 is an LED TV. We were amazed to see the box claiming it to be both full HD and HD-ready. But as we dug deeper in the specification sheet, we found out that the TV’s native resolution is 1366 x 768, which makes it an HD ready TV and not full HD. Mitashi has taken the liberty of calling it full HD only due to the fact that it can playback full HD (i.e. 1080p) signal but, obviously, in a downsample mode. The TV does score high in terms of connectivity with a total of three HDMI inputs and a USB input, along with the regular components like a VGA input. With the onboard USB 2.0, the TV also claims to playback all the latest digital file formats for audio and video, including MKV, Real Media and also DivX HD Plus. For audio, Mitashi has packed in two 10W speakers for each channel, along with some preset modes for equaliser settings.

Remote control
Similar to the TV’s form factor, the remote is lean and sleek. Just like a lot of other television remotes that you get these days, this one is also cramped with buttons up to the brim. We think that with the limited number of tasks that this TV can pull off, we could have done with a less populated remote.

Full function remote

Performance
Like we have already mentioned, the TV is light in weight, so setting it up will not be any problem. Due to the lack of too much jazz, we were ready to get started with the TV within five minutes after we unpacked it. We had connected a Sony PS3 unit and also a USB pen drive to the TV. While we were on the PS3’s homescreen, we decided to check the settings that the TV offers and were not surprised to see a very simple user interface with hardly any control over tweaking the parameters. There are four picture presets, namely standard, dynamic, mild and user. Even within the user mode, there are basic controls for brightness, contrast, sharpness and colour, along with two more controls for colour temperature (which worked with the saturation levels) and noise reduction.

Not the very best in it's class, but quite decent nonetheless

So, with not much to play around, we quickly slipped in a Blu-ray of ‘Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows’ and were treated to quality pictures replete with clean imagery and substantially deep black levels. One of the main reasons for the crisp imagery was the relatively smaller screen size of the TV that caused the 1080p video stream of the Blu-ray to come out as absolutely neat and tidy. But the small screen size also helped when we watched some DVDs from our stack from close distances. This aspect is particularly important for typically small rooms where one would want to use flat panel screens neither too big nor too small. We now switched the source to the USB drive. The TV was very quick (approximately 10 seconds) to read the 4GB pen drive filled with music, movies and photos. The navigation through all these files was also easy and fast, with the TV not taking more than five to ten seconds to initiate the playback of any file depending on the size of the file.

Plays full HD but in downsample mode

Verdict and price in India
This Mitashi 32” LED TV is priced at Rs. 29,990 and it looks like a very fair deal. With the prices of 32” LCD TVs also being in the same price bracket (maybe with a difference of Rs 500-1,000), it does seem logical to invest in the 32” LED TV. At least for the 10 percent to 20 percent power saving that LED technology has to offer. We think that the TV is a good fit for second TV buyers or users that intend to use the TV in smaller room sizes where the viewing distance is not more than eight to ten feet.

Temple Run 2 Review

PRICE IN INDIA

Free

Temple Run was an instant hit at launch. It was a pioneer in the runner’s class of mobile games and sparked a new era in the industry. Developers have cashed in on the craze and since then we’ve seen scores of games designed around this theme. Disney and Imangi even launched a special edition of the game called Temple Run Brave for their animated movie Brave. The idea was the same, but they threw in a few more challenges, of course, as you play Princess Merida (updated version lets you run as King Fergus as well), the lead character trying to outrun Mordu the demon bear through the forest. Temple Run 2 brings a fresh look to the game and tries to keep things just as entertaining as the first edition. Here’s a closer look. Obstacles look similar but with a few new twists Sticking to the standard principle of the runner game style, Temple Run 2 once again sees an intrepid explorer scurrying from a cave being chased by some sort of demonic ape. The game starts off at an easy pace as usual and naturally picks speed the further you run. Collect coins and power-ups as you run, slide, jump and rail down a tunnel to avoid a host of obstacles in your path. Trip up and the big bad ape will be hot on your heels. Just like its predecessors, Temple Run 2 is quite addictive. Using the device's Gyro and accelerometer, you can dodge obstacles by tilting your device to the left or right. Swipe gestures are still one of the key factors, and so is collecting gold coins. What makes this version so much more entertaining, even if it is essentially the same as the ones before, is the new environment. The murky swamp locale has now given way to a more picturesque mountain path. You’ll need to slide down ropes while swinging either to the left or right to collect coins, jump across streams, across broken wooden bridges, over temple ruins and even over spiked booby traps. For slide moves, you’ll need to slip under ruins and fire traps. Then you get to a rather interesting part in the game after a few thousand metres – a mine shaft. Watch out for those power-ups and tricky miner levels In this level, you’ll be riding along a beaten down track into a mine in a beaten down mine cart. You’ll need to duck and lean to collect coins or avoid obstacles and broken train tracks. Unlike some of the other games in this category, you’ll also need to swipe left or right down the right track. The wrong turn could lead you smackdab into a closed off shaft. What’s great about this game is that resurrection is quite easily available at least once without the need to buy or upgrade some factor for your character. Upgrades are available nonetheless from boosting the time limit on various options like the magnetic capture of coins or gaining protective shields, speed boosts etc. With 10,000 coins, you can even choose a new character to run. Upgrade your existing character or simply choose a new one The more you progress, as you may already know, the faster your pace gets. This is when things tend to get really tricky. There are a few instances where the road might look like it would go straight ahead, but you'd need to swipe left or right—and since the game is quite unpredictable, we can't really say where. This is possibly one of the more challenging parts of the game, especially if you've progressed far into the game and running around a break-neck speed. The bottom line All in all, Temple Run 2 is a well-designed game. The new location adds that fresh appeal to an existing franchise that was already entreating to begin with. We found no issues with control when we tested it on the iPad 2 and Galaxy Nexus devices. The game worked great and was very responsive on both platforms. Best part is, it’s free for both as well. If you’re into runner mobile game genre and were already hooked to Temple Run, part 2 will only make things better. We’re quite looking forward to part 3 (fingers crossed). To download Temple Run 2 for Android go here. To download Temple Run 2 for iOS go here.