New technology which can turn any surface into a touchscreen!

A new technology developed by scientist, which can turn any surface into a touchscreen. Carnegie Mellon University scientists have demonstrated that touch-based interfaces can be created anywhere almost at will. Scientists previously have shown that a depth camera system, such as Kinect, can be combined with a projector to turn almost any surface into a touchscreen. And this technology can be combined with other communication devices to get better output from this.

These adhoc interfaces can be moved, modified or deleted with similar gestures, making them highly personalized. Researchers at the university's Human- Computer Interaction Institute (HCII) used a ceiling-mounted camera and projector to record room geometries, sense hand gestures and project images on desired surfaces.

However, Robert Xiao, an HCII doctoral student, said WorldKit does not require such an elaborate installation. "Depth sensors are getting better and projectors just keep getting smaller," he said.

"We envision an interactive 'light bulb' - a miniaturized device that could be screwed into an ordinary light fixture and pointed or moved to wherever an interface is needed," he said.

The system does not require prior calibration, automatically adjusting its sensing and image projection to the orientation of the chosen surface.

Users can summon switches, message boards, indicator lights and a variety of other interface designs from a menu. Ultimately, the WorldKit team anticipates that users will be able to custom design interfaces with gestures.

The findings will be presented at the Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, in Paris. Though WorldKit now focuses on interacting with surfaces, the researchers anticipate future work may enable users to interact with the system in free space.

Read more at TimesofIndia

DC Designs planning to start production capacity in Gujarat,India!

DC Designs – A leading car modifier is all set to start new production facilities as Gujarat, India. The proposed new production unit at Sanand, Gujarat will have a capacity of developing 3,500 units of DC's supercars. Dilip Chhabria, the DC Design owner said that the new facility that would call for an investment of Rs. 60 crore, would be developed in a year's time. DC Design would develop super car DC Avanti and the other super cars.

Dilip Chhabria said, "I want DC Design to manufacture limited edition cars. Once we are done with 4000 units of one variant, we would phase that out and introduce a new model in the market. With aspirational young executives getting on board to own their sports car and luxury cars, we have decided to operate in the 25-30 lakh segment".

The company is all set to launch the DC Avanti, which was unveiled at the 2012 Indian Auto Expo. The firm would soon require a new production unit from the one in Pune that would manufacture the super car. DC Designs currently customises and build new vehicles form its Pune, Mumbai and Ghaziabad units. The new facility in Gujarat will be the company's fourth production unit, where it will have dedicated capacity to develop 1000 units of DC's existing car variants. Rest of 2500 capacity would be utilized to manufacture either DC Avanti or the new SUV DC proposes to display in Auto Expo 2014.

DC Designs has already opened a showroom in Ahmedabad. According to DC sources they are expecting around 40 -50 units sales per month. Recently company has launched the DC Designed Duster, which looks much more attractive than the original one.:) And the ggod news is you can get your duster modified to DC Duster with only Rs. 3.5 Lac.

Research: Crying babies calm down when carried!

Hey! To all parents (Also would be), It’s now officially proved in recent study that crying infant will automatically calm when you carry them, and you can feel that it also slowing down the fast heartbeats as well.

Recent research held in Japan found that when you carry your baby while walking, the infants became visibly more calm, relaxed and stopped crying.

"Infants become calm and relaxed when they are carried by their mother," said study researcher Dr Kumi Kuroda, who investigates social behavior at the RIKEN Brain Science Institute in Saitama, Japan.

Now moving more further, the study observed similar responses in mouse babies.

Source: evolutionaryparenting

Since carrying (meaning holding while walking) can help stop an infant from crying, Kuroda said, it can offer mothers a way to soothe short-term irritations to their children, such as scary noises or vaccinations, MyHealthNewsDaily reported.

For the small study, researchers monitored the responses of 12 healthy infants ages 1 month to 6 months.

Young babies carried by a walking mother were the most relaxed and soothed, compared with infants whose mothers sat in a chair and held them, the study found.

As a mother stood up and started to walk with her child cradled close in her arms, scientists observed an automatic change in the baby's behavior.

Kuroda recommends that when a baby starts crying, a brief period of carrying may help parents to identify the cause of the tears. She acknowledged carrying might not completely stop the crying, but it may prevent parents from becoming frustrated by a crying infant.

Although this study looked at a baby's behavior in response to its mother, Kuroda said the effect is not specific to moms, and any primary caregiver for the infant can perform the carrying.

The researchers observed the same carrying-induced calming effects when fathers, grandmothers and an unfamiliar female with care giving experience carried babies who were under 2 months old, Kuroda said.

Source: Research published in the journal Current Biology.

Smart headphones that detect user’s mood and play music accordingly!

New technology developed by Neurowear, the Mico headset looks like any other headphones, with the addition of an EEG reader that rests on the forehead and senses neural activity. Analyzing the signals enables the device to detect the mood of the wearer, which it exhibits using an LED display on the earpieces. When connected to the Mico app, this information is used to select a song from its database that matches the emotion. Currently, the tracks in the library are tagged with one of three moods – focused, sleepy and stressed. As well as getting rid of the step of scrolling through thousands of songs to find one that suits your mood, Mico headphones also provide a Pandora-like service, helping users discover new music. 

How this technology works? Checkout this video..

It’s still a big question that how popular it’ll be among the people. It’s mostly depends upon it’s brainwave sensor’s accuracy. And how it’ll find the right music for the mood from it’s library. But it’s really a good technology worth try…..

Survey: Britons spend more then 60 million hours a day on Facebook and Twitter!

In recent survey on social media habits showed figures that Britons spend an estimated 62 million hours each day on Facebook and Twitter.

The poll suggests that among 62 million hours around 34 million hours are spent on Facebook each day, with a further 28 million hours on Twitter.

UK have around 33 million Facebook users and among them 30% are on the network for at least 1 hour per day and around 13% spends at least 2 hours a day.

More than a quarter (26%) of UK women on Facebook check their pages at least 10 times a day, compared to less than one in five (18%) of men.Of the UK's estimated 26 million Twitter users, almost a third (31%) spend more than an hour a day on the network, while 14% - more than 3.6 million people - say their daily usage exceeds two hours. The results are based on a survey of 1,500 adults carried out by OnePoll for online bank, first direct

Image Source: www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk

The survey also found Facebook was named as the primary social media platform by 59% of people. Only 9% named Twitter as their first-choice network, while 7% chose LinkedIn. And 11% of Twitter users say it is important for them to have more 'followers' on their feed than their friends, compared to just 4% of Facebook users who say it is important to appear more 'popular' than their friends.

Rebecca Dye, social media manager at first direct, said: 'The survey shows just how central Facebook and Twitter are to people's lives at the moment, often at the expense of other communications and regardless of how often they're actually posting updates or tweeting.

"It's important we engage with our customers in ways that best suit their lives, so the more people are using social media channels to have conversations, or just to 'listen in', the more we need to develop our presence in social media," she added.

Based on this survey we can estimate that what will be the figure for INDIA! 

Read more at: dailymail.co.uk