My Science School

Turn your pictures into stories with Speaking Photo, an app that lets you add sound to any photo. It allows you to tell a story along with the image before you share it on Facebook, YouTube or via email. The storyboard feature gives users a chance to select multiple photo/audio pairs and customize their play order, creating a larger movie to share. Available for iOS and Android.

With SpeakPic, the voice of the translator will be really fun for you and friends.
Have you thought about making your friend sing his/her team's anthem? Or maybe an unexpected declaration of love. With SpeakPic, anything is possible.

You can change the voice with different effects to make the end result even funnier.
There are dozens of voices to choose from, in multiple languages.

Picture Credit : Google

Light emitted from displays of tablets and similar devices causes suppression of melatonin (the hormone that controls the night-day cycle), affecting our natural body clock. Darkness causes increased production of melatonin, signalling the body to prepare for sleep while light decreases melatonin production signalling the body to prepare to be awake. Using a self-luminous display for 2 hours before bed, suppresses melatonin by 22% making it harder to fall asleep.

Night-time melatonin secretion is suppressed by a relatively dim light when pupils are dilated. This has been suggested as the main way through which prolonged use of devices such as laptops and smartphones before bedtime can have a negative impact on melatonin secretion, circadian rhythms and sleep.

In addition to its production in the body, melatonin can also be taken in capsule form. The clinical uses of melatonin include treatment of age-associated insomnia, jet lag, and shift work. When administered at an appropriate time of day, it can reset the body’s circadian rhythms (see the articles on jet lag and circadian rhythm sleep disorders). This resetting effect of melatonin has been reported for many dose strengths, including those that are equivalent to the concentration of melatonin naturally produced by the pineal gland. Higher doses of melatonin can reset circadian rhythms, bring on sleepiness and lower core body temperature.

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The Muse headband by InteraXon monitors the electrical activity of your brain, and pairs with an app to help you focus better, improve cognitive function and settle your mind. EEG sensors allow Muse to detect and measure your brain activity; the info is sent to your smartphone or tablet via Bluetooth. Paired with Calm, a free app (available on iOS, OS X and Android) which guides the user through a simplified form of mindfulness meditation, Pavlok's guided sessions are designed to train your brain to manage stress and calm your mind. With instant audio feedback of either a storm or chirping birds indicating your state of relaxation, you'll learn to improve focus. Muse graphs your data, indicating how you did by telling you how long you were "calm" (your mind was focused on the exercise), "active" (your mind wandered) or "neutral" (somewhere in the middle).

One of the most critical concern is the sensitivity of the gadget. As EEG is measured in microvolts compared to the thousand times more millivolts of ECG, muscle noise can obscure the tracing. Thus, the company helps users how to improve the receptiveness of the sensors: the wearer should remove any make-up and should take care of how to put on the headband, the pads of the sensors should be made wet carefully, or they don’t recommend blinking or chewing on a gum – as they all could worsen the signal.

However, if you can make sure that the Muse receives the brainwaves appropriately, you will get real-time feedback with the help of its app whether or not your mind is too active. In case you have an army of thoughts crossing each other in your brain, the headband will give you advice on how to clear your thoughts.

Picture Credit : Google

Branded as a "personal coach for your wrist", the Pavlok wristband uses mild shock therapy to discourage any bad habits. The idea is that over time your brain will form a connection between the action and punishment that you won't need the shock. It is equipped with a Bluetooth radio linked to a smartphone app that monitors your actions. It is also monitored by a GPS tracker and a Chrome browser add-on that tracks websites you want to refrain from clicking on.

Program the bracelet to change a variety of habits; if you don't complete your goal, you get a shock (up to 300 volts). On the other hand, if you do something good, like waking up early as planned or completing an assignment then a financial reward awaits or friends will be notified of this accomplishment.

Picture Credit : Google

Lovers of the selfie rejoice! GoCam is a new app that uses touchless technology to let snap selfies. Developed by Swedish tech start-up Crunchfish, the iOS app lets users trigger photos or videos from a distance of up to 10 feet with simple gestures to control your smartphone camera. They can be edited with the included high quality filters and editing tools, and shared on social networks. So no more rushing into your best pose, take your time and trigger the shot when ready!

This unique app has been appropriately named GoCam for iOS devices.  By using gestures to control your camera, the app provides an amazing camera for taking selfies and groupies without touching your phone screen. Now the user doesn't need to rush into her favourite pose or hold it for long time intervals just to get that perfect click. With GoCam, you just have to set your phone and click a photograph whenever you are ready with the app intelligent detect your gesture and click the photo.

The company boosts that GoCam is the very first touchless camera application in the market with video recording, which allows the user to record videos touchless. The app lets the user capture spontaneous moments and then make the photos personal with filters and editing tools before sharing it with friends and family.

Picture Credit : Google

Log into Facebook. On the homepage click on the small lock icon on the upper right side. It will drop a settings menu. Click on 'See More Settings'. This will take you to a new page of settings. On the left sidebar, click on 'Blocking' to reach the 'Manage Blocking' page. Look for 'Block app invites' to block requests from a friend. To block requests from all friends for the given app, look for 'Block apps'. For either of the options, start searching for a friend or an app in the respective boxes. Once you find them, click to add to the blocked list. That's it. No more annoying game invitations.

Facebook has a page dedicated to letting you manage how apps interact with your account. It shows all of the apps you've used Facebook to log into, so it's worth reviewing while you're managing blocking on your account.

Head to Settings > Apps and Websites on Facebook to access this. You'll see three boxes under Preferences, which we'll discuss in a moment.

Also on the Apps and Websites page, you'll see a second box titled Game and App Notifications. Click Edit, then Turn Off to hide all notifications from games and apps.

If you don't care about any content from these apps or don't want to block them individually using the above controls, this is a handy way to stop all notifications in one sweep. It doesn't affect the games themselves, so you can continue to play them.

Picture Credit : Google

Sense by Hello is a simple system that tracks your sleep, monitors the environment of your bedroom, and reinvents the alarm. It keeps track of noise, light, temperature, humidity and particles in the air that can trigger allergies. The small glowing orb connects wirelessly to a tag (called the 'sleep pill') that clips to your pillow and monitors your sleep patterns, tracks movement like disturbed sleep or waking up, and listens for snoring and sleep talking. The iOS and Android app tells you how well you slept or didn't by giving you a Sleep Score each night, and analyzing the data to work out what temperatures and humidity you sleep best at. It also lets you set a Smart Alarm, waking you up in the morning at the right point in your sleep cycle so that you avoid that groggy feeling.

Your Sleep Timeline shows you a complete overview of our sleep cycle, punctuated by key events from your night. Together, you’ll see how external disturbances — like a car alarm going off outside your window, for example — can affect how well you sleep.

Unlike a normal alarm, Sense’s Smart Alarm analyzes your sleep cycle to know when you’re sleeping lightly, and wakes you up at the optimal time to start your day off right.
Simply set your alarm, choose from one of 15 beautiful wake tones, and Sense will gently wake you while you’re in the lightest phase of sleep, up to 30 minutes before your set time.”

Picture Credit : Google

 

Crowned the "keyless keyboard of the future", Airtype is an innovative device that lets you type on any surface. Simply slide each of the bands over your palms and type away. It learns your finger movements and adapts to the way you type, so you don't need to change your typing habits. Its text prediction technology ensures that you'll never have to hit the backspace again. Take it with you everywhere by just clipping it to your tablet or laptop.

Airtype is designed to be as portable as a cell phone and can easily clip into a tablet for easy transport. Air Type's website says that the system will learn to adjust to your typing habits. The app has dynamic text prediction and correction, the developers added. However, the team is not saying how exactly the prototype works, but it will most likely connect to devices via Bluetooth or NFC since it doesn't have any wires.

Since most of the people type erratically and never bother to learn the skill of typing, it’s difficult to guess how well Airtype will work. Check out the video below to see the proptype in action.

Picture Credit : Google

60.4% is the percentage of the top 10 million websites that use the English language. This is followed by Russian (8.5%) in second place and Spanish (4.0%) in third. Chinese comes in at tenth place with 1.4%, even though China has the highest number of internet users. English is the most commonly used language online, and is also the most spoken language worldwide with over 1.13 billion speakers. But it's interesting to note that the online use of a language doesn't always reflect how many people speak it. For example, Hindi is the third most spoken language worldwide, but it isn't one of the top languages used on the internet.

One reason for English being so dominant online is that it is considered a ‘universal language’, often chosen by people of different nationalities as a common way to communicate. Unlike Chinese, which until relatively recently was little spoken outside its homeland, English has long been a common international language in areas such as business and scientific research. This gives it a natural advantage online and helps account for its widespread use.

English accounts for 55% of all online content today yet less than 20 years ago it was more than 80%. During that time, we’ve gone from being passive consumers of content to active creators of it, while online retailers have increasingly offered personalised content to attract customers.

People are more likely to favour their native language online when discussing local issues or sharing with friends and they prefer to shop in their own language. As we continue to create our own content and look for even more tailored content from others, the amount of non-English pages online will only keep growing.

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Mickey is the unit of measurement for the speed and movement direction of a computer mouse. One mickey is approximately 1/200th of an inch. The speed can be measured in "pixels per mickey", the ratio between how many pixels the cursor moves on the screen and how many centimetres you move the mouse on the mouse pad. The directional movement is called the horizontal mickey count and the vertical mickey count.

Clock speed is measured by how many ticks per second the clock makes. The unit of measurement called a hertz (Hz), which is technically one cycle per second, is used to measure clock speed. In the case of computer clock speed, one hertz equals one tick per second. The clock speed of computers is usually measured in megahertz (MHz) or gigahertz (GHz). One megahertz equals one million ticks per second, and one gigahertz equals one billion ticks per second.

You can use clock speed as a rough measurement of how fast a computer is. A 2.0GHz computer will run faster than a 1.4GHz computer with the same processor and the same amount of memory. However, you cannot use clock speed to compare computers with different types of processors or computers with different amounts of memory.

Picture Credit : Google

The TimeChi sits on your desk and blocks digital and physical interruptions to keep you focused on your work and monitor your productivity. The productivity device comes with a colour-display and connects to any device via WiFi. Once you set the timer for your work, the accompanying app instantly puts your smartphone in the "Do Not Disturb" mode to block notifications. It even blocks "time wasting" websites; when you try to enter any, a motivational message pops up to keep your focus. A traffic light system lets others know when you're not to be disturbed and when you're available. TimeChi uses a combination of the

Pomodoro technique and 'timeboxing' - allotting a fixed time period in which your planned activity takes place. It offers gentle reminders to take regular breaks; after four focused time periods it reminds you to take a longer break so you can recharge. When the focus period ends and a break starts, the app unblocks the settings. Productivity Analytics on the app dashboard helps you analyze when you did the most work and when you were distracted.

Picture Credit : Google

Google Meet’s ‘Green Room’ feature lets you preview how you’ll appear and sound to others in a meeting. Before you join a meeting, click on the “Check your audio and video” button below the video. A pop-up window will not only show your video image, but allow you to see (and change) which microphone, speaker and camera is currently live. Click the “Next” button to record a 6-second video sample to see and hear you call quality. Your mic, speaker, camera and connection are checked and get green checkmarks if they are working. Select “Tips and Tricks” for help fixing an audio or video issue. When you’re done, click the ‘X’ in the upper-right of the window to close the Green Room, then click “Join now” to join the meeting.

This feature is available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter/ Standard/ Business Plus customers, Enterprise Essentials/ Standard/ Plus customers, as well as G Suite Basic, Business, Education, Enterprise for Education, and Non-profit customers.

Picture Credit : Google