MomentCam, A Photo-editing App That Makes Your Cartoon Lookalikes

People in China have probably noticed that people on their social networks have been sharing vintage-looking caricature avatars featuring themselves. From tech-savvy young people, selfie-lovers to moms and pops who just start to get the hang of social networking, a wide demographic is using MomentCam, allegedly the world’s first photo-editing app that generates caricatures from real portraits.

MomentCam has gone viral in the past three months. In August, it rolled out on Android and accumulated 20 million users within 70 days; in September, it raised 20 million RMB series-A funding; on October 22, it launched its iOS version and since then new accounts per day has averaged 2-3 million; on November 10, it landed on Baidu’s app distribution platform and saw a significnat boost in visibility, aggregating more than 80 million per day.

Snap your own portrait and let the app cartoonize it, then you can share the tongue-in-cheek portrait on QQ, Weibo, WeChat, even Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Remarkably, the Chinese app has 20% of its users overseas, mostly in Thailand.

Why is it so popular? Huang Guangming, maker of MomentCam and a member of the entrepreneurship club, Dark Horse, sees two killer features of the app: city dwellers/multitaskers want entertainment that is fast and easy to start. No kidding, I asked my parents to try it and they merrily sent back their artworks within ten minutes. There are other aspects that make MomentCam stand out from existing photo-editing apps like Meitu or Baidu PhotoWonder. First off, the app is a self-mocking experience, freeing people from their hyper self-awareness daily routine. Second, there is little concern about privacy since faces are hardly recognizable, so people feel comfortable sharing their caricatures on social media – free advertising. It is also addictive. Users keep anticipating what funky creatures they will turn into. Lastly, the caricatures are high-quality works from trained artists and people can pay for premium versions as they please.

Source: TechNode

WSJ Argentina Plans Measures Against Businesses Raising Prices

         The Wall Street Journal reports,"Argentina's President Cristina Kirchner has pledged tougher measures against businesses that raise prices, as her administration tries to stabilize an economy suffering from double-digit inflation and hard currency shortages''.

"I think that among the many things that will be on the legislative agenda this year, we in the executive and the congress are going to have to approve measures that for once and for all defend consumers from abuse by powerful sectors, oligopolies and monopolies," Mrs. Kirchner said on Saturday in a televised speech in Congress.

The most recent private-sector estimates put Argentine annual inflation at around 30%.

The wave of price increases following the 15% devaluation of the peso in mid-January are unjustified and constitute the looting of Argentines' pocketbooks, Mrs. Kirchner told law makers on Saturday during the inauguration of the 2014 legislative session.

Most economists say annual inflation has been running above 20% for years due in part to the government's reliance on money printing to cover deficits. Capital flight by inflation-weary investors and debt payments have depleted the central bank's foreign currency reserves, which forced Mrs. Kirchner's administration to break a long standing promise and devalue the peso this year.

Many economists think the economy grew about 3% last year. But inflation and dollar shortages that have forced the government to cut imports are hurting growth. Most economists expect the Argentine economy to grow just 0.9% this year, according to a survey by FocusEconomics. Some are more pessimistic, with Barclays and Bank of America  Merrill Lynch forecasting a recession.

In recent months, the government has grudgingly adopted more conventional economic policies like raising interest rates to head off a potential financial crisis before Mrs. Kirchner steps down in December 2015.

Still, the Kirchner administration will continue to reduce subsidies for wealthy people who don't need them, Economy Minister Axel Kicillof said last week. In a more than three hour speech, Mrs. Kirchner defended the redistributive economic policies that have characterized the combative, left wing style of populism espoused by the Kirchners.

On pace with Alibaba and Tencent, Baidu will continue its acquisition spree in 2014

Baidu's revenues rose 50.3 percent year-on-year last quarter to RMB 9.52 billion (US$1.55 billion), according to its latest earnings report. Despite that strong performance driven largely by advertising, net profits dipped 0.4 percent to RMB 2.78 billion (US$454 million).

The stunted profits were largely due to the Chinese search giant’s efforts to keep pace with Alibaba and Tencent (HKG:0700). The three companies, collectively known as BAT, went on an acquisition spree in 2013 that led to some of the biggest deals in the history of China’s tech industry.

Last year alone, Baidu bought Android app store 91 Wireless, group-buying site Nuomi, video portal PPS, and e-bookstore Zongheng. In late 2012, it also bought a full rather than partial stake in video portal iQiyi.

Baidu reports mobile accounted for more than 20 percent of its total revenues. It runs the fourth most popular Android app store in China.

Shareholders seemed pleased with the report – Baidu stock prices rose 8 percent in after-hours trading as of press time. The company projects revenues will hold strong through Q1, and CEO Robin Li says more acquisitions are on the way in 2014.

Source: TECHINASIA

Prime Minister: Ukraine on Brink of Disaster

    The Wall Street Journal reports,"Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said Sunday that his country was "on the brink of disaster" and personally blamed Russian PresidentVladimir Putin for bringing the two nations to the verge of war.

With more than 6,000 airborne and naval forces, Russia has taken complete operational control over the Crimean peninsula in Ukraine and appears to be preparing to occupy the territory, a senior Obama administration official said Sunday".

"Russian forces now have complete operational control of the Crimean peninsula, some 6,000-plus airborne and naval forces, with considerable materiel," the official said in a briefing for reporters. "There is no question that they are in an occupation position in Crimea, that they are flying in reinforcements, and they are settling in."

Tencent Restructures E-Commerce Business. Yixun Will Have to Go.

Employees of Tencent’s e-commerce business group were told this afternoon that there has been a restructure and some of them have been assigned to other business units.

Now it’s not a secret that Tencent is in talks with JD.com, one of the biggest online retailers in China that just filled for an IPO in the US, to buy a stake in the latter and possibly pay it with Tencent’s own online retail service Yixun and other resources.

Although it’s not confirmed, some Tencent employees learned that the online services of Yixun will be merged into JD.com and the new JD will replace Yixun to enjoy the access to WeChat users. Currently Yixun is selling selected items through Specials, the only official channel for m-retail on WeChat.

Tencent never figured out a way to make its e-commerce marketplaces or online retailing business as successful as other services like gaming or virtual item sales. Yixun’s market share was less then one fifth of JD’s in Q3 2013, according to a iResearch report. Compared to Tencent’s virtual item offerings or some other services, online retail is a const-intensive and low margin business.

For JD.com, it will be a hugely positive factor for its IPO: 1) Yixun will add more market share into it, 2) WeChat, with a huge user base and convenient payment solution, is regarded as a huge opportunity for m-commerce, and 3) Tencent’s endorsement must encourage investors.

Source: TechNode

Comcast Is Acquiring Video Ad Company FreeWheel For $320 Million

Over the years, FreeWheel has become the go-to ad-serving platform for many TV networks that stream their content online. And it’s about to become part of one of the biggest distributors of content online and off.

That’s because FreeWheel is about to be acquired by Comcast, our sources say. The deal, which should be announced soon, is rumored to be priced at around $320 million, according to one source. (UPDATE: A source close to the situation confirms the deal is nearly completed, but financial terms haven’t yet been finalized.)

FreeWheel is one of the largest platforms used by TV networks and major video distributors to serve ads alongside their content online. Since being founded in 2007, the company has racked up clients that include MLB.tv, ESPN, FOX, NBC Universal, Sky, Turner, and VEVO, among others.

Recently, it also signed up Amazon to begin serving ads alongside its streaming videos.

Comcast, of course, is interested in owning the technology for its own video ad platform. That said, FreeWheel is expected to continue serving outside clients, particularly the networks that the cable company has partnered with for its own TV Everywhere services.

An acquisition by Comcast might seem like a conflict of interest among some of FreeWheel’s customers — in particular satellite TV provider DirecTV, which is a competitor to Comcast and an investor in FreeWheel.

Then again, this wouldn’t be the first tech platform that Comcast has bought and run as a standalone subsidiary. In 2006 Comcast bought online video distribution startup thePlatform, which has continued to serve a number of cable providers and TV networks to deliver online streams of their content.

Other strategic investors in FreeWheel include Disney’s Steamboat Ventures and Turner Broadcasting System. The company had also raised institutional money from Battery Ventures and Foundation Capital over the years.

Source: TechCrunch

Medical: Switzerland the avant-garde in anti-aging treatment

There are a range of anti-ageing injections available. To find out more, we talk to Dr Blum, cosmetic doctor at the Clinic Lémanic, about the advantages of the different treatments available.

1. What kind of injections are available to improve our looks?

Most people will think of botox when beauty injections are mentioned, but there is a whole range of less well-known anti-ageing treatments which might be a better solution for your beauty needs.Some examples: fillers, such as hyraluronic acid; bio-stimulants such as Sculptra; bio-agents like Platelet Rich Plasma or stem cell treatments.

2. How do they work and what are the benefits?

Each treatment works in a different way and has different benefits, depending which problem is being targeted.A filler or a bio-stimulant will help you recreate volume lost from your face
A bio-agent or stem cell treatment helps the skin to regrow and also improves the quality of the new growth. Another treatment is carboxitherapy, which is a procedure involving carbon dioxide
This anti-ageing treatment improves the circulation and drainage of the skin, so toxins and waste are removed.

There is a whole range of less well-known anti-ageing treatments which might be a better solution for your beauty needs than Botox.

Dr Blum, Clinic Lémanic

3. Are there any disadvantages to these types of injections?

There should be no disadvantages at all as long as they are carried out by well-trained, experienced professionals who have taken the time to understand the patient’s conditions, needs and expectations.The quality of the product is also highly important. A good quality, bio-degradable product will produce the optimum results.

4. Which treatment is right for me?

Choosing the appropriate treatment depends on a number of factors, including general health, age and the condition of the skin.The injections should also be a part of a whole treatment package, including in depth analysis before the treatment and adequate information for follow-up

Medical: Berkeley researchers find evidence for a "molecular fountain of youth"

The quest for longer and healthier life, if not immortality, has been part of the human experience since we evolved the ability to recognize the total annihilation of individual death. Our understanding of the biology of aging at the molecular level is advancing so rapidly that it appears inevitable that another decade or two of life will be enabled before long. A new step in what may be the right direction has just been published by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley.

The ravages of aging appear to be related to oxidative stress combined with telomere exhaustion, along with many other known and unknown factors. The subject of the new Berkeley study is a class of proteins called sirtuins that are known to play a central role in regulating aging and longevity in many non-human models (such as mice).

There is good evidence that these proteins also play a similar role in humans. For example, research has shown that, of two variants of the SIRT3 sirtuin protein (known to have strong anti-oxidant properties), humans who live past 90 years of age only have one of the variants in their bodies, the variant that enhances production of SIRT3. The difference between the two variants results from a change of one gene by one mutation, and appears to be sufficient to significantly affect an organism's longevity. This suggests a strong link between SIRT3 and longevity.

The genetics of longevity are quite interesting, but still more interesting would be finding an approach to offset the hand you were dealt at birth, or better yet, to stack the deck. The authors of the Berkeley study decided to see if SIRT3 could rejuvenate blood stem cells extracted from old mice.

Their first step was to see what happened as mice, which did not possess the SIRT3 gene, aged. When young, these "knockout" mice followed the same course of aging as did a set of normal control mice. However, when the mice were two years old (about an average lifespan for a lab mouse), the knockout mice had far fewer blood stem cells than did the control group.

What causes the difference in the course of aging? Young cells have low levels of oxidative stress (the generation of reactive oxygen species during metabolism), low enough that the body's normal anti-oxidants can keep up with the resulting damage. When they get older, they can't keep up, and need a boost of SIRT3 to help them. When there is no SIRT3, the progress of old age occurs sooner and more rapidly.

“When we get older, our system doesn’t work as well, and we either generate more oxidative stress or we can’t remove it as well, so levels build up,” said Chen. “Under this condition, our normal anti-oxidative system can’t take care of us, so that’s when we need SIRT3 to kick in to boost the anti-oxidant system. However, SIRT3 levels also drop with age, so over time, the system is overwhelmed.”

So it appears that age-related degeneration speeds up in the absence of SIRT3 in the system – at least among mice. The Berkeley team decided to see if increasing SIRT3 levels could rehabilitate the blood stem cells. This was done by infusing the blood stem cells with the SIRT3 protein, following which their ability to make new blood cells did indeed return.

Further studies will address if SIRT3-induced rejuvenation will apply to whole organisms, so that they might live longer when so treated, even after experiencing normal aging events.

Source: University of California at Berkeley

Mobile: Huawei unveils high-end MediaPad X1 phablet

China's Huawei has launched a new 7-inch HD alternative to the still mightyNexus 7 or Amazon's similarly-sized Kindle Fire HDX at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, but one with the added bonus of full mobile telephony capabilities. The flagship MediaPad X1 phablet packs high resolution cameras front and back, offers a choice of operating environments and promises a long battery life.

The 3G/LTE-capable X1 features a 7-inch, 1200 x 1920 resolution (323 ppi) LTPS display with 178 degree viewing angles and is capable of supporting up to 10 simultaneous touch points. It can play 1080p high definition movies at 30 fps, and boasts a Glove Mode, where users will be able to use the touchscreen while wearing thick gloves.

Processing oomph comes in the form of 1.6/1.8 GHz HiSilicon Kirin 910 quad-core processor with Mali450-MP4 GPU, backed up by 2 GB of LPDDR3 RAM and 16 GB of solid state storage with microSD expansion. Users can choose to run stock Android 4.2 or the company's Emotion UI 2.0, and the 5000 mAh Li-Pol battery should be good for five online movies, 15 hours of surfing or 125 hours of audio playback between charges. If another mobile device needs a refill, the Reverse Charging function allows users to share some of the MediaPad X1's own juice.

The device comes with a 13 megapixel rear-facing camera with a Sony Exmor RS BSI sensor and an F2.2 wide-angle lens, and a whopping 5 MP webcam with 22 mm aperture at the front. Photos can be taken using voice commands, and audio notes added to captured images. The 183.5 x 103.9 x 7.18 mm (7.2 x 4.1 x 0.3 in), 239 g (8.4 oz) phablet also benefits from DTS sound technology and a built-in noise-reduction microphone. 802.a/b/g/n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0 wireless technologies also feature.

The MediaPad X1 was priced at €399 (US$545) at the Huawei press conference in Barcelona, and will be released to Chinese, Russian, Western European, Middle Eastern, Japanese and Latin American markets from next month.

Source: Gizmag, Huawei

Mobile: Gionee reveals super-slim Elife S5.5 smartphone at MWC

Top 10 smartphone maker Gionee brought what's claimed to be the world's slimmest smartphone to Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, this week. The 5.55 mm thin Elife S5.5 features a Full HD AMOLED display at 441 ppi, is powered by an octa-core processor and has a battery that's reported to last all day with heavy use.

• The 145.1 x 70.2 x 5.55 mm (5.7 x 2.76 x 0.22 in), 130 g (4.6 oz) Elife S5.5 has a 5-inch, 1920 x 1080 resolution Super AMOLED+ capacitive multitouch LTPS display, runs the company's Amigo 2.0 operating environment (based on Android 4.2), and is powered by an octa-core 1.7 GHz MTK 6592 processor backed up by 2 GB of RAM and 16 GB of solid state storage.
  "The Elife S5.5 is crafted with a distinct metallic frame and Corning Gorillas Glass Uni-Body," says William Lu, President of Gionee. "It uses the world’s thinnest AMOLED Screen, thinnest PCB board with a 0.6 mm and 0.4 mm glass rear cover."
  The single-SIM smartphone features a rear-facing 13 megapixel autofocus camera with up to ISO1600 sensitivity, and a 5 MP snapper with a 95 degree ultra-wide-angle lens at the front.
  Despite its slim profile, it boasts a non-removable 2300 mAh Li-ion battery, with the promise of an even more capacious 2450 mAh battery available in the next upgrade. Configurations will support 3G and 4G/LTE networks, there's Bluetooth 4.0 and micro-USB 2.0 with support for OTG.
  The 3G model is due to be released shortly in 40 countries for around US$370, with the LTE version following in June.
  Source: Gionee

Medical: New device uses laser to provide life-saving information on patients' blood

 Not everyone's blood clots at the same rate. While that might seem like simply an interesting bit of trivia, it's anything but trivial to doctors performing operations or emergency procedures, who need to know what might be required in the way of transfusions or anticoagulant drugs. Now, an optical device can provide them with that information within minutes.

Currently, in order to measure its clotting properties, patients' blood must be subjected to a series of lab tests that can take hours to perform, that require relatively large amounts of blood, or that involve large, expensive machines. The new device, developed by a team at Massachusetts General Hospital, gets much quicker, less costly results, it's about the size of a Kleenex box, and it only requires a few drops.

It utilizes a process known as laser speckle rheology, in which a laser is shined into the liquid, and the patterns of the reflected light are analyzed. In the case of unclotted blood, the freely-moving cells and platelets cause the pattern to fluctuate rapidly. As the cells and platelets start to join and the blood starts to coagulate, however, there's less movement and thus less fluctuations.

Using a miniature high-speed camera, it's possible to monitor the change in the amount of fluctuations over a period of several minutes. That information can be used to deduce both the overall clotting time, and the concentration of fibrinogen (a protein involved in the clotting process) in the blood.

The current prototype must be hooked up to a computer, although the scientists hope to have a self-contained mobile phone-sized device ready for clinical trials within a year.

The research was led by assistant professor Seemantini Nadkarni, and a paper on it was recently published in the journal Biomedical Optics Express.

Source: Gizmag, The Optical Society

Medical: Device helps surgeons see cancer cells during operations

When doctors are operating on a patient to remove a cancer, they face a major challenge: telling healthy and cancerous cells apart. But a new, as yet unnamed device being developed by researchers at Washington University in St. Louis' School of Medicine could provide a safe, affordable and portable solution.

The team's goggle-based device allows the surgeon to see the cancer cells, glowing blue. Tests have shown it could make visible tumors as small as 1 mm in diameter. To make the cells appear blue, the FDA-approved contrast agent indozyanine is injected into the tumor.

The compact system is battery-operated, wireless, wearable and most importantly, hands-free. A night vision viewer from which it was developed was retrofitted to provide near-infrared excitation and white light illumination simultaneously. The visual data captured by near-infrared (NIR) fluorescence is displayed directly on the eyepiece with adjustable amplification.

The wireless capability, adapted from a battery-operated radio frequency video transmitter, allows the system to transfer real-time video to a remote site, where the wearer's view can be displayed graphically. This enables a remote expert to observe what is happening during the operation from the point of view of the local surgeon, and provide expert feedback and image analysis. This way the system could be applied to point-of-care medical interventions, help generate real-time pathologic assessment of tissues, and even allow for remote medical consulting.

The new eyepiece could represent an improvement on current methods of intra-operative imaging. These are usually expensive, logistically complex, time-consuming and at times risky, as in cases when radioactive tracers are needed. These emit hazardous ionizing radiation to both patients and surgeons. The blue dyes used for visualizing sentinel lymph nodes with the naked eye, for example, can also cause adverse reactions.

The technology has been developed by a team led by Samuel Achilefu, a PhD professor of radiology and biomedical engineering at Washington University in St. Louis. Earlier in February, breast surgeon Julie Margenthaler, an associate professor of surgery at the university, performed a surgery wearing the glasses. “Imagine what it would mean if these glasses eliminated the need for follow-up surgery and the associated pain, inconvenience and anxiety," she said in a press statement.

Currently, surgeons usually remove the tumor and some neighboring tissue that may not include cancer cells. Once analyzed, and if cancer cells are found in the sample, then a second surgery is recommended to remove additional tissue that once again will be tested for cancer. In cases of breast cancer patients, between 20 and 25 percent of those who have lumps removed require a second surgery.

An article with details on the technology behind the device appeared in a recent edition of the Journal of Biomedical Optics.

Source: Washington University in St. Louis

Medical: 3D-printed heart helps doctors prepare for life-saving surgery

3D printing technology has assisted in life-saving heart surgery performed on a 14-month old child, with the J.B Speed School of Engineering at the University of Louisville producing a printed model of the child's heart prior to the procedure, allowing the doctors to better prepare for the operation.

Chief of Radiology at Kosair Children's Hospital Philip Dydysnki approached the school when he and his medical team were looking at ways of treating Roland Lian Cung Bawi, a boy born with four heart defects.

Using images taken from a CT scan of Roland's heart, researchers from the school's Rapid Prototyping Center were able to create and print a 3D model of the organ 1.5 times its actual size. Built in three pieces using a flexible filament, the printing reportedly took around 20 hours and cost US$600.

Cardiothoracic surgeon Erle Austin III then used the model to devise a surgical plan, ultimately resulting in the repairing of the heart's defects in just one operation.

"I found the model to be a game changer in planning to do surgery on a complex congenital heart defect," said Austin.

Roland has since been released from hospital and is said to be in good health.

Medical: Electronic membrane could provide high-res heart care

When it comes to monitoring the electrical activity of the heart, or delivering electrical stimulation to it (as in the case of pacemakers), most current technologies rely on electrodes that make contact with the organ in just a few locations. That doesn't necessarily provide a very detailed picture of what's going on, nor does it deliver stimulation all that evenly. Now, scientists have created a sensor-laden three-dimensional elastic membrane that can be pulled over the whole heart, to provide a large number of contact points.

The device was created by an international team of scientists led by Dr. Igor Efimov at Washington University in St. Louis, and Dr. John Rogers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

To create the experimental prototype, they started by scanning a rabbit's heart. With human patients, this could be done via MRI or CT scan. Using that data, they proceeded to create a 3D-printed life-size model of the heart – not unlike the one recently created at the University of Louisville, to aid in heart surgery on a child. That model was then used to mold the membrane, to ensure a custom fit over the epicardium (the outer wall) of the real heart. The tiny interconnected sensors embedded in the membrane were applied using a transfer printing technique.

Finally, the membrane was pulled onto the heart, which was made to beat in a lab test.

Along with electrodes for stimulating the heart to correct arrhythmia, clinical versions of the membrane could also include sensors for monitoring parameters such as temperature, mechanical strain, pH or troponin levels, the last of which is a protein which indicates that a heart attack is imminent.

Additionally, the membranes could be fitted to other organs besides the heart. On the kidneys, for instance, they could be used to monitor concentrations of calcium, potassium and sodium.

A paper on the research was published this week in the journal Nature Communications.

Source: Washington University in St. Louis

Architecture: Garden Bridge will cross the Thames between Temple Station and South Bank

Plans for London's proposed Garden Bridge are beginning to flourish following the recent confirmation that the UK government and Transport for London (TfL) will each commit £30 million (US$50 million) of funding to the project. Conceived by Joanna Lumley, designed by architect Thomas Heatherwick and to be planted by renowned horticulturist Dan Pearson, the bridge will provide a green public space and a link between the bohemian South Bank and lively Covent Garden.

The design won a TfL tender to improve pedestrian access across the Thames and will span the river between Temple Station and the South Bank. It is currently awaiting the results a pre-planning consultation carried out by TfL, which are due in the next few months. Application for planning consent is anticipated to be submitted in May 2014 and assuming it is successful, construction will begin in 2015.

Source: Gizmag

Architecture: Orproject proposes huge sealed Bubble of clean air for Beijing

According to a report by the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, environmental conditions in China's capital are so bad as to be "almost unfavorable for human living." Officials have recently passed new laws and set aside billions of yuan to try and curb air pollution in Beijing, which has been recording some of its worst smog levels ever. Architecture firm Orproject has proposed the construction of a sealed canopy filled with clean air. Bubbles would cover a park and botanical garden, providing a healthy, temperature- and humidity-controlled oasis.

In addition to providing locals with a clean, green sanctuary, Orproject suggests that surrounding buildings could also be connected to Bubble's "controlled air system." Apartments, offices, retail spaces and, in particular, medical facilities could all benefit from the idea, were it created.

"The geometry of the light-weight structural system has been generated using an algorithm that simulates the development of veins in leaves or butterfly wings," says Orproject on its website. "The heating and cooling of the air is done through a ground source heat exchange system. Electricity for the project can be generated by solar cells integrated into the canopy surface."

Orproject says its project is made feasible by using ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE) as a construction material. ETFE is a transparent, lightweight and strong material that can be made into panels. It is used in this way at the Eden Project in Cornwall, UK.

"The concept for bubbles was developed as a theoretical proposal," Orproject's Rajat Sodhi tells Gizmag. "Orproject has developed research in venation systems and the use of this geometry for large-span structures. Bubbles is a confluence of these ideas and the need for clean air in polluted cities across the developing world especially in countries like China and India.

Source: Gizmag

Aircraft: UAV successfully sees and avoids another aircraft while in flight

In a recent flight test in Australia, a Scan Eagle UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) succeeded in visually identifying an approaching Cessna aircraft, and letting its own ground-based operators know that evasive action was required. It's being hailed as a major step towards the allowance of UAVs in commercial airspace.

Part of the Queensland Government's Project ResQu, the test was carried out by Queensland University of Technology's Australian Research Centre for Aerospace Automation (ARCAA), in collaboration with Boeing Research & Technology - Australia, and Scan Eagle manufacturer Insitu Pacific.

The vision-based sense and avoid technology used in the UAV had previously been designed and tested for use in manned aircraft, as a backup for human pilots. Although the Scan Eagle was manually steered out of the way by its remote operator, it is hoped that future UAVs equipped with the system will be able to avoid mid-air collisions autonomously.

"Ultimately, this will allow UA [unmanned aircraft] to provide public services such as assistance in disaster management and recovery, as well as in environmental, biosecurity and resource management," said ARCAA director Prof. Duncan Campbell.

Source: Queensland University of Technology 

NASA scientists create first geological map of Ganymede

NASA scientists have produced the first global geological map of Jupiter's largest moon Ganymede by combining images from over twenty years of observation by the Voyager spacecraft and the Galileo orbiter.

Ganymede, which as the largest moon in the Solar System is bigger than the planet Mercury, hosts a thick mantle of ice roughly 800km (497 mi) thick. The moon has two major terrain types, dark cratered areas and younger regions characterized by a plethora of grooves and ridges. The map, published by the US Geological Survey exhibits three distinct geological periods demarcated by cratering, tectonic disturbances and finally by a drop in geologic activity.

“This map illustrates the incredible variety of geological features on Ganymede and helps to make order from the apparent chaos of its complex surface,” says Robert Pappalardo of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

With an equatorial circumference of 16,532 km (10,272 Mi) Ganymede presents an attractive target for global mapping as it hosts a surprising diversity of geographical characteristics. Future missions to map other moons will now be able to use Ganymede as a point of reference.

Further detailed observations of Jupiter's moons will be undertaken by the European Space Agency's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) scheduled to arrive in orbit around Jupiter in 2030, whereupon it will spend at least three years taking measurements of the gas giant and its wards.

NASA: Kepler space telescope had hit the “motherload” of exoplanets, confirming 715 new planets in 315 star systems.

It’s a good thing that planets outside our Solar System get catalog designations instead of proper names, or space scientists would now be scraping the barrel for “Ralph” or “Tigger.” That’s because on Wednesday, NASA announced that the Kepler space telescope had hit the “motherload” of exoplanets, confirming 715 new planets in 315 star systems. It used a new statistical technique that the space agency says has removed a bottleneck that has plagued the analysis of the Kepler data.

From the time the unmanned Kepler probe was launched in 2009 until its at-least-temporary decommissioning last year, it surveyed about 150,000 stars. Kepler was able to detect possible planets orbiting around them, as the planets cut off part of the starlight when passing in front of the star. Using this technique, Kepler detected thousands of planetary candidates and hundreds were confirmed.

Unfortunately, there’s a problem. Confirming these candidates has been a slow, laborious process because planets aren’t the only things that orbit stars. Many times, other small, dim stars are orbiting the star under observation, which produce false positives, so astronomers need to sort out which objects orbiting a particular star are planets and which are other stars.

 NASA’s answer to this conundrum was to employ a statistical method called “multiplicity.” Unlike when Kepler started work, we now know much more about exoplanetary systems, and this data allows scientists to come to some very helpful conclusions. For example, if planets are randomly distributed in star systems, we shouldn’t see very many. Instead, we see thousands of possible planets and very often more than one is orbiting a particular star.

Furthermore, many star systems are similar to our own Solar System. Their orbits are in a single plane like a pancake, rather than than in intersecting orbits like the popular image of an atom. In other words, these multiple planet systems are very stable and that’s where the clever bit comes in. Star systems made up of more than one star are unstable and are unlikely to have multiple planets mixed in with the orbiting stars, and that gives NASA a faster way of confirming which candidates are planets.

 If you’ve got more than one object orbiting a star and at least one is a planet, the odds are they’re all planets.

A research team at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California co-led by planetary scientist Jack Lissauer verified the technique by studying Kepler data gathered from May 2009 to March 2011. The result is not only 715 new planets, but 94 percent of them are smaller than Neptune, which is a great advance on earlier work that tended to find giant planets.

Among these are four orbiting in their stars’ habitable zones where liquid water can exist and where life could be present. One of these is Kepler-296f, which is twice the size of Earth and orbits a star half the size and five percent as bright as the Sun. However, NASA points out that it may be a mini-Neptune with a thick hydrogen-helium atmosphere.

According to NASA, this new statistical technique is already giving scientists new insights into how star systems form, and could result in hundreds more exoplanets being confirmed.

The Kepler results will be published in The Astrophysical Journal on March 10.

Source: NASA

Eggshells could find use in ceramics production

According to the US Department of Agriculture, every year approximately 455,000 tons (412,769 tonnes) of discarded eggshells must be transported and disposed of in the US alone. Now, however, scientists at the University of Aveiro in Portugal have developed a method of using such eggshell waste in the production of ceramic goods.

Although the specifics of the technology are still under wraps, it involves incorporating crushed eggshells into a ceramic slurry which is subsequently processed "according to a specific protocol that includes a 3-cycle cooking phase." Samples of porous pavement made from the slurry exhibit desirable qualities such as porosity and water absorption, and are overall considered to be of sufficient quality to meet industry standards.

Besides keeping eggshells out of landfills, the process could also allow ceramics manufacturers to save money – the calcium in the shells would be a lower-cost alternative to calcite, which is traditionally used in the production of ceramic items. Additionally, calcite must be mined, with all the environmental consequences that doing so entails.

What's more, businesses in the food industry supplying the shells could make money by selling them to the ceramics industry, instead of spendingmoney on having them taken away and dumped.

The process has been tested in the lab, and the university's Technology Transfer Office is now seeking industry partners to help finance a large-scale pilot project.

Source: University of Aveiro

Environment: Carbon capture and sequestration

Carbon capture and sequestration is a hot area of research in the effort to fight global warming through the process of removing carbon from the atmosphere and ferreting it away within carbon soaking materials, a team from the University of Calcutta has found an unexpected (or should that be uneggspected) material that could trap carbon from the atmosphere in the form of eggshells. The team has demonstrated that the membrane that lines an eggshell can absorb almost seven times its own weight of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, allowing the gas to be stored until environmentally friendly methods of disposing, or even using it, can be found.

The team explains that eggshell comprises three layers; a cuticle on the outer surface, and a spongy calcium-containing middle layer and inner layer. The second and third layers are composed of protein fibers bonded to calcium carbonate – a chemical compound that results from another carbon sequestration technology also developed in India using naturally occurring bacteria. The membrane, which is about 100 micrometers thick, is just below the shell and and Basab Chaudhuri and his colleagues have demonstrated that a weak acid can be used to separate it from the shell for use as a carbon dioxide adsorbent.

Currently, separating the membrane from the cuticle is not an efficient process but, with India alone consuming 1.6 million metric tons of eggs each year and global egg consumption expected to reach about 1,154 billion by 2015, the team says there is definitely an incentive for researchers to find an efficient method in order to use the membrane material in climate change amelioration. To make the process viable on an industrial scale, however, the researchers say a mechanical separation method would be needed.

Until such a method is found, Chauduri muses that we could all help reduce CO2 levels by exposing our egg membranes to the air after eating our eggs. Couldn’t hurt.

Nissan readies smart rear vision combining mirror, LCD and image processing

Nissan has announced the commercialization of a new type of driver rear visibility system that integrates a wide-aspect, hi-res LCD monitor with image processing into the traditional rearview mirror. With the system switchable between mirror and LCD modes, the big advantage of the "smart" mirror is that in LCD mode, it can provide an unobstructed rear view without blind spots, and an enhanced picture in difficult conditions.

In conditions where glare is a problem, such as dawn, dusk and with a tailing car with headlights on high beam, the image processing software can provide a clearer picture by modifying the image. Similarly, in low contrast situations such as rain and snow, the image processing also provides clearer visual information to the driver, as well as overcoming the issues of a wet, clouded or dirty rear window.

Nissan plans to introduce the Smart rearview mirror to the Japanese market as an option over the next few months, with a global roll-out planned for 2015. We'll get to see the "smart mirror" system in action for the first time next week at the Geneva Motor Show.

Driving is a sight-response activity. Nearly all the information with which a driver makes decisions when driving, is visual, and Nissan has long been a strong proponent of better visual information systems for the driver.

It was the first manufacturer to provide a comprehensive information system for parking with its birds-eye view and for 360 degree situational awareness with its Around View Monitor.

Nissan's focus on combining digital cameras and image processing technologies to better inform the driver has been a highlight of its active safety R&D and the benefits will have significant roll-on effects for the marque, not the least of which will be great design freedom for the entire car in the longer term.

Parking has long been a problem area for human drivers, and the ingenious combination of the output of four corner-mounted cameras into a bird's eye view of a vehicle's surroundings, was one of the highlights of the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show.

From its initial introduction, the system evolved to provide more useful information in easily-comprehended visual form with a Front Wide View Function and Rear Wide View Function.

When a driver needs to perform a blind corner turn, or when exiting a car park, the system can provide a 180-degree view of the front and back of the vehicle on the monitor inside the car.

Moving Object Detection (MOD) was subsequently added, and this informs the driver of moving objects detected near the car when maneuvering out of a parking space.

The cameras have also contributed other safety technologies, including the Lane Departure Prevention system, which alerts the driver when the car unintentionally leaves the driving lane. Given the epidemic of distracted driving precipitated by the proliferation of the smartphone, the technology is making it safer not just for Nissan drivers, but for all road users.

The camera systems have also been instrumental in the development of Nissan's Emergency Brake System, which detects a car in front of the vehicle and alerts the driver with an in-vehicle audible and visual warning and if necessary, emergency brake is applied to help avoid an imminent collision.

The Smart rearview mirror is equipped with a newly developed high-performance, narrow-angle camera and a specially-shaped LCD monitor. Matching a standard wide angle camera lens to this unique monitor could not be done since the images from the camera, when adjusted to the special monitor size, produced a low-resolution image resulting in an insufficient picture quality. To rectify this challenge, a 1.3 megapixel narrow-angle camera was developed so that picture quality would not be sacrificed when formatted for the specially designed monitor.

When the LCD monitor and mirror are used in unison, the transparency of the monitor and the reflection in the mirror can create an image overlap ─ a dual layered effect-making it difficult to get a clean view, but with the Smart rearview mirror, Nissan applied a unique technology to the structural design of the LCD monitor and the mirror, enabling it to function without any image overlaps.

Source: Gizmag

theguardian: Putin is shaping events in Ukraine. It's time the west caught up

One of the alarming features of the crisis on Ukraine's Crimean peninsula is the staggering confidence with which Vladimir Putin is pursuing his agenda there and in eastern Ukraine.

In quick order, Russian troops from the Black Sea fleet – as it has now been acknowledged by the pro-Russian prime minister of Crimea – have seized airports and strategic locations, including government buildings and broadcast centres. Saboteurs have damaged the fibreoptic telephone cables connecting Crimea to Ukraine. There are unconfirmed reports of attempts to seize an air defence missile base and of landings by military hovercraft. On Saturday the upper house of the Russian parliament voted unanimously to approve an intervention that was already happening.

The recent moves are instantly recognisable from the old Russian military playbook – not least the emphasis on manipulation, surprise and provocation by which a sense of crisis is stoked up followed by an appeal for aid. Whether this will follow the pattern of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, where Russian peacekeepers occupied and effectively annexed territory, is a moot point on a peninsula with a large Russian-speaking population dominated by both the Black Sea fleet base at Sevastopol and by the large bases of the Russian southern military command across the border around Krasnodar and Rostov-on-Don. But for now it seems that is the intention.

It is for this very reason – combined with the Russian seat on the security council and its nuclear status – that Putin has ample room for manoeuvre in Crimea. Potential western sanctions against Moscow are limited to largely symbolic gestures, not least now the winter Olympics are over.

The real bind is for the new Ukrainian government in Kiev and for the EU, both of which will want to avoid a widening conflict, the latter because it would take place on Europe's borders. The reality is that an already fragile and divided Ukraine cannot risk confrontation with Moscow, paradoxically the power that was supposed to guarantee the security of its borders when it gave up its nuclear weapons after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Indeed, in a hint of what may be in store for Kiev, the Russian energy ministry – which has been employed by Putin before as a powerful economic lever against Ukraine – has issued a pointed reminder of how much Kiev owes Gazprom for gas imports.

 The current crisis presents the biggest threat to security in Europe since the Balkan wars, and western leaders, including Obama and David Cameron (who has spoken to Putin on the phone), have hardly been impressive in their response, demonstrating a weak grasp on the events unfolding. For now, Putin is ahead of the game. It is time for the international community to catch up.

Source: theguardian

New Pew study shows US an increasingly digital society, but Americans view social media and the internet very differently.

With its 25th birthday coming up in March, the internet is the most popular millennial in America.

New data from the Pew Research Internet Project illustrates America’s embrace of – and increasing reliance on – the internet since the 1990s. More than half of Americans (53%) admit they would find the internet “very hard” to give up, compared with 38% who thought so in 2006. When you compare those numbers to the measly 28% who feel this way about landline telephones, it shows a significant shift in preference toward different types of communication technologies.

What’s interesting about the chart above is that relatively few people (11%) feel like giving up social media would be difficult, even though a Pew study from last year showed that 42% of Americans access multiple social networking platforms.

But the survey also shows that Americans may still view participating in social media, accessing the internet and using email as entirely different experiences. That’s an interesting distinction, if not an entirely new one. For example, when people talk about “digital detoxing”, the internet as a means of consuming information isn’t on the receiving end of the vitriol – just the parts of it that serve as a means to communicate with others. But, paradoxically, communicating with others is what Americans appear to enjoy most about the internet.

America, don’t believe all of the bad headlines you read about the internet ruining our lives, making us dumber and destroying our social relationships. We couldn’t live without it if we tried.

Source: theguardian

WSJ: Russia Moves to Deploy Troops in Ukraine

         The Wall Street Journal reports,"Russia's parliament voted unanimously on Saturday to authorize a request from President Vladimir Putin to deploy Russian troops in Ukraine, defying warnings from U.S. President Barack Obama and other Western leaders not to intervene.

Russian lawmakers also asked Mr. Putin to recall the country's ambassador to the U.S. Mr. Obama has publicly warned Russia that there would be costs for any military intervention in Ukraine.

Though a major escalation in the openness of Russia's commitment, Saturday's move comes as Russian troops and their local allies have already largely taken control of Crimea, a restive province of Ukraine that belonged to Russia until 1954 and remains predominantly pro-Russian".