My Science School

Former First Lady Melania Trump recently launched a new platform which will release NFTS regularly. The first digital art piece to be sold on her platform is titled Melania's Vision

Melania's platform aims to assist children aging out of the foster care system by way of economic empowerment and access to resources needed to excel in the fields of computer science and technology.

Digital data

NFT stands for Non-fungible token. It is fuelled by block chain technology, meaning it is a unit of digital data. What makes NFTS different from bitcoins is that they are non-fungible. An NFT is unique and cannot be replaced with something else For example, a bitcoin could be traded for another bitcoin but you get the same thing - 10 bitcoins = 10 bitcoins or something worth 10 bitcoins. However if you trade an NFT, you get something that is completely different - an NFT art piece = whatever rate is paid for it.

NFTS can represent digital files such as audio. video, drawings/artwork, a piece of writing, items a video game and any other forms of creative work It can be used to commodify digital creations and fetch money for digital creators.

The first NFTS were based on the Ethereum open source blockchain and appeared around 2015 More recently, NFTS have become hugely popular with collectors and speculators having spent over 200 million dollars on NFT-based artwork in February March 2021. This, compared to 250 million dollars throughout 2020,

How does it work?

Since NFTS are digital data, artists who wish to sell their works as NFTS need to register with an NFT marketplace and then mint digital tokens by uploading and validating their information on a block chain. This can cost an artist anywhere between 40 and 200 dollars. After this, the artist can list his or her work for auction on an NFT marketplace, similar to Amazon or EBay.

What's the benefit?

A piece of digital art can be uploaded or circulated by anyone on the Internet. So what is the benefit for a collector buying an NFT? While the artworks can be reproduced or circulated by anyone, NFT gives the buyer the ownership rights to the original artwork. Like physical art, the artist can still retain the copyright and reproduction rights, but the person who has bought the NFT owns the original artwork.

Picture Credit : Google

Launched on January 7, 1968, the Surveyor 7 was a lunar unmanned Lander that successfully landed on the lunar surface on January 10. The last of the original series of Surveyor moon Landers of the 1960s. Surveyor 7 was the only spacecraft of the series that landed in the lunar highland region. A.S. Ganesh takes a look at Surveyor 7-the only purely scientific mission in the series.

With the objective of landing human beings on the moon, NASA worked on various issues through the 1960s. The decade saw spectacular progress being made as we understood our natural satellite better than ever before.

First, the Lunar Orbiter series had flown five successful missions in five attempts meeting its objective of mapping potential landing sites for the early Apollo missions and in fact mapping almost the entire lunar surface. The Surveyor landing missions, meanwhile, enjoyed four successes (1, 3, 5, and 6) in the first six attempts providing the Apollo programme with ground-truth data.

Freed up for science

With most of its objectives met, NASA opted to use the last of the Surveyor missions for a purely scientific purpose, targeting a landing site in the lunar highlands - outside of potential landing sites of the early Apollo missions.

Even though the Surveyor missions had initially been planned as a series of seven spacecraft, three more missions had been added in 1963 to take the total to 10. But with the Success of other missions, the later Surveyors were cancelled in December 1966.

Officials, however, decided on incorporating some of the science payload planned for these later Surveyors on the remaining approved Surveyor spacecrafts. While Surveyor 3 and 4 carried a remote controlled mechanical arm known as the soil Mechanics Surface Sampler (SMSS), Surveyor 5 and 6 carried the Alpha Scattering Experiment designed to measure concentrations of various elements on the lunar soil. It was decided that Surveyor 7 alone would carry both these instruments in order to maximize the science return.

Coasts to the moon

Launched on January 7, 1968, the Surveyor 7 had an uneventful coast to the moon. As initial tracking suggested that the Surveyor 7 would miss its intended target on the moon by just 77 km, the spacecraft was commanded from the ground to place it on the desired trajectory. Tracking after this manoeuvre indicated that Surveyor 7 would touchdown just 1.7 km from the point aimed at a less than 10% chance of coming down on potentially dangerous terrain.

As a result, the second of the planned mid-course corrections on January 9 was cancelled. And as expected the Surveyor 7 successfully landed on January 10 on the ejecta blanket emanating from the bright Tycho crater, a mere 2.4 km from its target.

Ground controllers fired pyrotechnic charges about 21 hours after landing in order to drop the alpha-scattering instrument on the lunar surface. The controllers used the surface sampler robot arm to force down the alpha-scattering instrument when it failed to Move beyond an intermediate position.

Following the alpha-scattering instruments first chemical analysis, the sampler was used to pick up the instrument and move it to two additional locations. The scoop on the samplers arm was employed to pick up soil, dig up trenches and conduct a number of surface-bearing tests.

Plenty of useful data

Nearly 66 hours of alpha-scattering data were obtained on three samples during the first lunar day and over 36 hours of SMSS operations had been performed. Following the local sunset on January 23, Surveyor 7 completed its planned post-sunset operations before being put into hibernation on 26, 80 hours after the local sunset.

Communications, which were paused during the hibernation resumed on February 12 in the hopes of gathering more data during the second lunar day. Even though Surveyor 7 responded immediately to the commands, initial telemetry suggested that the long, cold lunar night had damaged the spacecraft's battery limiting the amount of power available.

Despite these problems, Surveyor 7 transmitted 45images of the lunar surface on the second lunar day, in addition to the 20.993 it had relayed on the first lunar day. The Alpha Scattering Experiment which had been left at the third sample site at the end of the first lunar day, gathered another 34 hours of useful data on the second lunar day.

Surveyor 7 was finally shut down on February 21, bringing the curtains down on NASA's highly successful Surveyor series of missions. In addition to providing over 21.000 photos from its missions, Surveyor 7 also served as a target for Earth-based lasers in order to measure the distance between the Earth and the moon more accurately.

The results from the alpha scattering instruments highlighted that the crust of the lunar highlands is poorer in iron than the mare sites that had been analysed by the other Surveyors. The resounding success of Surveyor 7 not only provided scientists with invaluable information about the lunar highlands, but also opened up these sites as well as potential targets for future planned human landings.

Picture Credit : Google

Pulsars are celestial objects generally believed to be rapidly rotating neutron stars that emit beams of electromagnetic radiation. Packing a mass that could be more than that of our sun in the space of about a large city, pulsars are spherical and compact. Optical pulsars are a class of pulsars that can be detected in the visible spectrum.

British astronomer Jocelyn Bell Burnell discovered the first pulsars in 1967. She achieved this while pursuing her Ph.D. and assisting her advisor Antony Hewish, who went on to win the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1974 for this discovery along with another astronomer Martin Ryle, with no mention of Burnell.

The hunt begins…

Burnell’s discovery, however, opened up the floodgates in the field. Within another year, more than 20 pulsars had been discovered. All of these, however, had also been detected by their radio waves and even though many were still sceptical of ever detecting light from a pulsar, the race to find optical pulsars were on.

That race was won by astronomers John Cocke and Mike Disney when they discovered the first optical pulsar on January 15, 1969. Theoretical astronomers with no practical experience before this discovery, the pair was an unlikely candidate to clinch this important discovery.

In fact, Cocke and Disney had bumped into each other only months before their groundbreaking discovery. Staying at the same motel in Tucson, Arizona with their wives, a chance encounter at the swimming pool marked the start of their partnership as they realised that they were both astronomers heading to the Steward Observatory, trying to get experience at the telescope.

Despite being complete novices, they received observing time of a few nights on a small 36” telescope to their amazement. With the news of the discovery of a pulsar that pulsed 30 times a second from the general direction of Crab Nebula coming in, Cocke and Disney decided to do a thorough study of the region by starting to look right in the centre of the Nebula.

Stitch a partnership with Taylor

Looking for optical pulsars, however, is a complicated experiment that required instruments that the pair had no idea about. Ray Weymann, one of the senior astronomers at the observatory, suggested that they reach out to another astronomer Don Taylor, as he already had an ideal piece of equipment.

Disney called Taylor “a bit of an electronic wizard” and the trio decided to work together. The fact that Taylor’s own interest lay with planets and quasars put him in good stead to look for an optical pulsar.

Heading to the remote mountain peak where the observatory was located, the trio, along with Bob McCallister, the night assistant, set up their equipment. Once Taylor had connected the 36” telescope to a Computer of Average Transients or CAT (a device that could produce a smooth, representative curve by averaging many passes of light), the team were ready to find the pulsar’s light.

Doppler effect

As nothing worthwhile came about in the first night of observations, Taylor showed Cocke and Disney how to work the equipment as he decided to head back to the University of Arizona to help his students. The mood was down when nothing came about during the next night as well, as the following two nights that they were left with were expected to be cloudy.

It was during one of those cloudy days that it occurred to Cocke that they had to re-check their calculations. Cocke then told Disney as they were cooking dinner that they hadn’t accounted for the Earth’s movement around the sun. This movement would mean that there would be more pulses when the Earth moves towards the pulsar and fewer when moving away.

By accounting for this Doppler effect, the pair corrected the radio period of the pulse. They were lucky to get a few more nights of observing time as the one who had to come after them opted out for personal reasons. Along with McCallister, the pair returned to the observatory, reset the timing gear to the new period they had worked out and restarted the whole procedure.

CAT-ching a glimpse

Thus, on the night of January 15, 1969, Cocke, Disney, and McCallister witnessed a historic moment when they observed a pulse on the CAT screen. Following their success in observation number 18, they repeated it again and were again successful.

Once the excitement had cooled off a bit, they decided to confirm that the signals weren’t an artifact of the instrumentation. While observation number 20 gave them reason to fear, they decided to move the telescope further in observations 21 and 22 and were happy to see no pulse at all. Observation number 23 was a repeat of 18 and the pulse showed up on the screen once again.

Apart from the fact that they had made a stunning discovery, what was even more incredible was the fact that their entire conversation through that night was recorded on tape as the events unfolded. The excitement of the moment of a great discovery, the palpable fear that it might all be a mistake and not real, are all clearly discernible from the recordings.

When the pair first communicated their success to Taylor, he wasn’t ready to believe them. But on returning the following day and having a go at the equipment himself, Taylor too was convinced that this was the real thing. The team sent a telegram announcing their discovery to the International Astronomical Union and on February 8 the same year, the trio officially announced their findings in a paper titled “Strong light flashes have been detected from the fast pulsar in the Crab Nebula” in the journal Nature.

The discovery of the optical pulsar is a fascinating story about science itself and about those who practise it. While the discovery made Disney believe that they “were incredibly fortunate the first time” they went observing and he saw astronomy, and science in general, as a form of big game hunting; Cocke felt that “you only had to look in the right places and look often enough, and you’d find something”. Whatever their methods and beliefs, their partnership allowed them to succeed where others disbelieved.

Picture Credit : Google

Take time to detox

Too much time is spent in front of the screens these days due to online classes and assignments. So take a break and spend time meditating or taking a walk in the neighbourhood. Also resolve to take regular breaks when you need to sit in front of the computer for the whole day.

Reduce use of paper

Do your bit for the environment and save printer paper by printing only what is absolutely necessary.

Appreciate what you have

Technology keeps developing rapidly. But you don't need to have it all. Be content and make full use of the technology at your disposal.

Keep in touch

While you can't meet friends and relatives physically, resolve to keep in touch with them through video calls and emails. Instant connectivity is one of the many boons of technology.

Stay fit and healthy

Don't compromise on your health. You can use technology to maintain your physical and mental health. There are many gadgets as well as apps available online that teach you exercises and meditation.

Organise

Like you clean up and organise your home, organise your desktop and email inbox as well. Delete unnecessary files and organise the existing ones into folders and tabs.

Be polite

While social media has too much negativity going on, when you choose to interact with friends or acquaintances online, resolve to be polite, kinder and nicer.

Be safe

Set privacy settings on all your social media accounts to maximum and install antivirus software. Protect yourself and your system from cybercrime.

Help others

Some people take time to adapt to changes in technology. Be patient and help them understand the gadget or software they are struggling to navigate.

Stand for what's right

You are lucky to have access to the Internet and other technology. Use it to voice your opinion for the right things and further important causes.

Picture Credit : Google

The Luna programme is one of the most successful programmes in space exploration. It included a series of robotic spacecraft missions that were aimed at the moon by the Soviet Union in the period between 1959 and 1976.

Designed as orbiters or landers, 15 missions were successful in this programme, accomplishing a series of firsts in our foray towards the moon. It all started with Luna 1, which became the first human-made object to reach escape velocity – the speed and direction required to travel beyond the Earth’s gravity.

Renamed later

The probe that we now call Luna 1 was originally referred to, along with its launch vehicle, as Cosmic Rocket by the Soviet Press. It was only in 1963 that it was retroactively renamed as Luna 1.

Luna 1 was a sphere-shaped spacecraft with five antennae extending out of one of its hemispheres. It had no propulsion systems on itself and instrument ports protruded from the surface of the sphere.

The three-stage launch vehicle was launched on January 2, 1959 and the launch vehicle enabled its third stage to accelerate beyond 11.2 km per second – enough to leave the Earth’s gravitational field. Luna 1 separated from its third stage after reaching escape velocity on the same day, thereby becoming the first human-made object to escape the confines of Earth’s gravity.

Gas cloud

On January 3, a large cloud of sodium gas was released by the spacecraft at about 1,30,000 km from the Earth. The glowing orange trail of gas was visible over the Indian Ocean with the brightness of a sixth-magnitude star, meaning it was just visible to the unaided eye under favourable conditions.

As it panned out, bad weather conditions prevented observations of the gas at most sites. It was, however, captured on film in one of the ground stations and was also photographed by astronomers. Even though the “artificial comet” proved to be a poor aid in tracking the mission, it served as an experiment to study the behaviour of gas in space.

A problem with the guidance system of Luna 1 meant that the spacecraft did not follow the planned trajectory. It was later understood that a two-degree error in pointing of a ground-based radio-control antenna during the powered flight of the rocket gave the spacecraft more velocity than was required. As a result, the spacecraft was now set to cross the lunar path before the moon could pull it into its gravitational field.

Achieves lunar flyby

On January 4, 34 hours after the launch, Luna 1 passed about 6,400 km from the moon’s surface. While it failed to meet its primary objective of impacting the lunar surface, its increased velocity meant that it became the first human-made object to go into orbit around the sun. Luna 1 went into orbit around the sun between the orbits of Earth and Mars, thereby becoming the first artificial planet of the solar system.

Even though ground controllers lost contact with Luna 1 approximately 62 hours after launch, the spacecraft had provided considerable data by then. The measurements obtained from the mission provided data on Earth’s radiation belt, showed that the moon had no magnetic field and that a solar wind streamed through interplanetary space. Despite not meeting its objective, the other successes of Luna 1 prompted further missions that eventually made the Luna programme extremely successful.

Picture Credit : Google

Marie Curie is a name that needs no introduction. A name synonymous with advances in sciences, she was particularly involved in the branch of radioactivity. Marie, in fact, is the only woman so far to have been awarded the Nobel Prize twice. After becoming the first woman to win a Nobel Prize in 1903, she won a second in 1911.

Marie shared her 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics with her husband, the French physicist Pierre Curie, and their colleague, the French engineer Henri Becquerel. While Becquerel was given half the prize, the other half was shared by the Curies. The Curies won this award “in recognition of the extraordinary services they have rendered by their joint researches on the radiation phenomena discovered by Professor Henri Becquerel”.

An intellectual affinity

Marie and Pierre met in the spring of 1894 and what started as an intellectual affinity soon blossomed into something more, as they married each other in 1895. What brought them together, kept them together, as the husband-wife duo teamed up professionally to deliver astounding results.

Becquerel paved the way for the Curies’ groundbreaking research by discovering radioactivity (a term later coined by Marie) in 1896. While most of the scientific community was fascinated by German engineer Wilhelm Roentgen’s recent discovery of X-rays, Becquerel’s discovery hadn’t aroused much attention. Marie, however, was drawn towards the idea and decided to make a systematic investigation.

It didn’t take her long to realise that thorium gave off rays just like uranium. She drew the conclusion that the ability to radiate must be linked to the interior of the atom itself and didn’t depend on the arrangement of atoms in a molecule.

A productive year

Even though Pierre had been working with crystals and magnetism since the early 1880s, Marie’s interest in radioactivity, and the results that she was getting, dragged him away from his crystals. Marie’s next idea was to study natural ores that contain uranium and thorium and she posited that a new element must be present in small quantities in the ore she studied on finding that it was far more active than the same amount of uranium.

By the end of June 1898, the Curies had discovered polonium, a substance about 300 times more active than uranium. The word “radioactivity” was used for the first time when they published about this work in July. By the end of the same year, they had grounds for having come upon another very active substance that they named radium. It was their colleague Becquerel who relayed the news about the discovery of radium to the French Academy of Sciences on December 26.

“Happiest years of their lives”

What followed was the arduous task of showing that they had indeed discovered new elements by producing demonstrable amounts of them, determining their atomic weights and even isolating them, if possible. Working out of a large unoccupied shed, the Curies laboriously isolated one-tenth of a gram of radium from one tonne of pitchblende. Even though the conditions in which they worked proved detrimental to their health, Marie later reminisced that “it was in that shed that they spent the best and happiest years of their lives”.

The Curies’ high of winning the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics was tempered by the sudden death of Pierre in an accident in 1906. Marie, however, continued their work, and having devised a technique to separate radium from its residues, made it possible for it to be studied for its therapeutic properties.

Marie also took over her husband’s position as professor of general physics, becoming the first woman to teach at the Sorbonne University. After winning a second Nobel Prize in 1911, this time for chemistry, she went on to spend the rest of her life on their scientific work, including promoting the healing nature of radium.

Murray’s mistake

Radium was one among thousands of words that wasn’t included in the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary and only made its way through a supplement that was produced in 1933.

It is believed that the lexicographers at Oxford were working on the fascicle ‘R’ to ‘Reactive’ at the time when the Curies coined the term “radium” for the element that they had newly discovered.

Even though this seems like a perfect moment to include the word in the dictionary, James Murray, a Scottish lexicographer and the first editor of what is now known as the Oxford English Dictionary, erred on the side of being cautious and decided against including it as he believed that the word might not last.

Murray, of course, was proven wrong as the Curies went on to win the Nobel Prize for their work, which included the discovery of radium.

Picture Credit : Google

With the end of the current year and the start of a new one fast approaching, the gifting season is just around the corner. Within no time, we will be sending items and receiving them from our near and dear ones. Chances are, in most of these cases, they would have arrived in cardboard packages.

Cardboard, known as corrugated paper in the industry, is a packaging material that is made from layers of thick paper. If you have ever stopped to look at these boxes closely, rather than just what came within them, you would have noticed that the top layer of the corrugated paper is alternately grooved and ridged. It is this design that gives it its added strength and rigidity, making it an ideal material for the purpose for which it is now put to use.

Pleats and popularity

Even though its most common use now is as a packaging material, cardboard existed for centuries before, being put into an odd range of purposes. This is because it wasn’t until the pleated design that we just described came into existence that it really rose in popularity.

It was in the 19th Century that this design made its way, first to be used as liners in tall hats. It was a New Yorker named Albert L. Jones who first suggested that a sheet of paper lined on one side with another layer of pleated paper could be used for packaging.

Like many great inventions with humble beginnings, one of the most important aspects of modern e-commerce can be traced back to a simple patent. In a patent titled “Improvement in paper for packing” that he received on December 19, 1871, Jones delineated his ideas that turned out to be a cornerstone for the packaging industry.

While Jones primarily suggested his invention as a “means of securely packing vials and bottles”, he was clear at the outset that he didn’t want it to be confined to just that and that it “may be used to advantage for various purposes”.

Jones’ bold predictions

Jones, who applied for his patent on November 1, 1871, was quick to identify that the design that he was proposing was far superior to anything available then for packaging. He was aware that his corrugated paper was “more effective to prevent breaking than many thicknesses of the same material would be if in a smooth state like ordinary packing-paper.”

Jones didn’t stop just there and even went a step further, adding in his patent that instead of merely “wrapping the vials or bottles with the corrugated material, the latter may be made into packing-boxes”. He believed that such boxes would afford added protection to the product inside as they were now surrounded on all sides by this material.

Extremely commonplace

Just as Jones had predicted, packaging boxes were made out of corrugated paper by the end of the 19th Century. First used as a packaging material for breakable products such as glass and pottery, it soon became evident that it offered significant advantages and can be extended to literally any item.

That is exactly how it panned out by the middle of the 20th Century as it became cheap enough to meet any requirement. From packing fruits and fresh produce to boxing industrial shipments travelling across continents, corrugated cardboard has now become the go-to material for all our packaging needs.

Picture Credit : Google

Japanese engineer Jun Rekimoto has created a ball that can hover and fly, similar to the Quidditch snitch in Harry Potter's world.

Reikmoto created the HoverBall by embedding a small quadcopter within a flexible, spherical frame. This allows it to hang in the air, glide or even dodge around players. The system would allow game designers to program the ball to react in different ways to a traditional ball and could even steer itself away from star players to even up teams.

The HoverBall, which is 90 mm across and has a hover time of five minutes, has the possibility of changing the “vocabulary" of ball games. “With this technology, physical dynamics of a ball can be re-programmed by sports designers, and new ball-playing vocabularies such as hovering, anti-gravity, proximity or remote manipulation, can be introduced to extend the way people interact with balls," says Reikmoto.

Picture Credit : Google

Six new species of a mysterious blood-sucking ant have been identified in Madagascar. Belonging to the Amblyoponinae sub-family of ants, they have earned the nickname 'Dracula ants', thanks to a social feeding system that involves them feeding off the blood or haemolymph of their young. Known as 'non-destructive parental cannibalism' because the young don't end up dead, this behaviour sees scores of worker ants gorging themselves on the vital fluids of the colony's young before regurgitating it up and feeding it to the sedentary and wingless queens. The larval victims of the Dracula ants show signs of puncture wounds and scarring across their bodies.

Three of the new species' names - Mystrium labyrinth, Mystrium mirror and Mystrium shadow - were assigned to "evoke the air of mystery around this genus".

Picture Credit : Google

In a rare image taken by aquatic ecologist Carlos de la Rosa, a Julia butterfly (Dryas iulia) and a bee (Centris sp.), drank the tears from a spectacled caiman (Caiman crocodilus) on Costa Rica's Puerto Viejo River for more than 15 minutes.

Many insect species including moths, butterflies and bees tear-feed, usually on mammals, and are referred to as 'lacryphagous' from lacrima, the Latin word for 'tear'. Tear-feeding on reptiles is less well documented, but in every case the insect seems to be in pursuit of nutrients and minerals - chiefly salt.

Butterflies often flutter around mud puddles, sipping their mineral-laden water, a behaviour known as "mud puddling". When minerals are rare in the soil, insects look for tears, sweat, urine, and even blood to scavenge the vital mineral.

Tear drinkers can target humans too. In parts of Thailand, where minerals can be rare in local soils, bees have been known to sip human tears.

Picture Credit : Google

The Agua Caliente Solar Project in Arizona (USA) is officially the world's largest photovoltaic power plant. Owned by NRG Energy and MidAmerican Solar, the plant will generate 290 megawatts at peak capacity.

The completion of Agua Caliente represents a series of recent achievements for LPO in bringing large-scale solar energy to Americans. In February, Secretary Moniz and I attended the dedication of Ivanpah, the world’s largest concentrating solar power plant (CSP), which was built with the help of a $1.6 billion Energy Department loan guarantee. Last fall, supported in part by a $1.4 billion loan guarantee, the Solana concentrating solar power plant started delivering “night-time solar” to Arizona homes and businesses as the world’s largest solar facility with thermal storage. And just last week the 250 MW Genesis CSP project, which was issued a $852 million loan guarantee, came online in Riverside County, CA.

These records are even more impressive when compared to where we were prior to 2009. At that time, the largest PV plant in the U.S. was a 14 MW installation at Nellis Air Force Base. A commercial-scale CSP plant had not been built in the U.S. in two decades. But in just five short years, we have increased the scale that PV plants can achieve by twentyfold and we have also made tremendous technological advances in concentrating solar power and thermal storage.

Credit : Energy.gov 

Picture Credit : Google

Ever come across a colour you want to use in a design or to paint your walls with? The SwatchMate Cube lets you capture the exact colour. Just hold it up to the coloured surface that you want to copy, and press the top. An internal spherical light source illuminates the surface in a controlled sequence, with the reflected light being picked up by an integrated colour sensor. The device immediately sends the colour via Bluetooth to a paired iOS or Android smartphone or to Photoshop on a nearby computer, although it can also store up to 20 colours in its own memory. The Cube can output colours in the RGB, CMYK and L*a*b* colour spaces.

Once you've picked a color, they can either be stored on your phone for later use, or beamed straight to Photoshop, using Bluetooth.

The Kickstarter project has already hit more than $85,000 of its $55,000 funding goal — but for photographers, it would be especially useful to hit the $90,000 mark. That's when SwatchMate would add a light intensity sensor, allowing it to be used as a light meter, to. If it hits that point, $80 for a gadget that can works as a light meter as well as a color sampler would be a pretty fantastic tool.

Picture Credit : Google

The original name in online photo sharing recently updated its Android and iOS apps. Refine your pics in real-time with editing tools that enable deep photo tweaking, and Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr integration. Record up to 30 seconds of HD video using the same live filters available with photos and customize the video by adding different segments of footage. Its new Auto Sync feature lets you upload original quality photos from your phone automatically to your account. Other new features include a smarter and faster search, detailed photo data and limiting the audience of select photos. Plus 1000 GB of free storage for everyone who downloads the app.

Flickr has also finally renamed Sets (a collection of images) to the more widely used Album.

In addition, Flickr to challenge the Instagram and other photo-editing apps has also introduced new editing tools such as levels, crop, colour balance, contrast, saturation and live filters (total of 14 live filters for iOS) for HD video editing to its iOS app.

Flickr's vice president, Bernardo Hernandez said in a blog post, "Whether you're new to Flickr or one of our biggest fans, we want you to know the new apps are the beginning of a great deal more to come! They represent our commitment to building new products for your changing needs and they offer a beautiful canvas for upcoming features."

Credit : Gadgets 360

Picture Credit : Google

Need portable power on the go? Vorson's Bookmark packs a 2,500 mAh battery into a thin shockproof housing that's just 4.7 mm thick. On its bulging bottom you'll find a standard-sized USB port, as well as touch-to-activate battery meter so you always know how much juice is left. The battery works with any USB charging cable, including a micro USB cable. Described by Vorson as the "world's thinnest backup battery", with the $60 Bookmark you won't have to worry where your next charge will come from.

The Vorson Bookmark battery is designed to be easy to carry with you, you won't find better and more practical than having the world thinnest portable battery in your pocket, with the capacity to fully recharge once your phone, it will provide enough power to ensure you can make it through the busiest days, on family trip or if you are going out of town for a few days with friends or for work.

Power charging has become a difficult issue for people these days as smartphones and tablets are being use many hours each day. But don't worry, with Vorson Bookmark portable rechargeable battery,

No more stress to see your phone dying when waiting for an important phone call, texting or browsing online for vital informations. Now you can finally enjoy using your phone or any devices that can connect to USB, the Vorson Bookmark battery can recharge virtually any USB device.

Picture Credit : Google

The International Space Station (ISS) has received its latest arrival - talking robot Kirobo, after successfully docking a supply ship launched from Tanegashima Space Centre early August. Equipped with voice and facial-recognition technology, Kirobo stands 34 cm tall. Jointly developed by the University of Tokyo, Toyota and Dentsu Inc., its design is said to have been inspired by the Japanese anime character Astro Boy.

During one of its demonstrations, the robot's developers asked Kirobo what its dream was. It replied that it "hoped to create a future where humans and robots live together and get along".

Kirobo, whose name is derived from the Japanese words for "hope" and "robot", will feature natural-language processing. It will record its conversations with astronaut Koichi Wakata (Japan's first ISS commander) well as serve as a link for messages sent to the astronaut from the flight control room. Wakata and Kirobo will be companions, and with the robot's biometric capabilities, it will be able to recognize and greet Wakata upon his arrival in November. Kirobo will also communicate with Mirata, its twin robot back on Earth, during its mission which will continue into 2014.

At a press event ahead of his launch, Kirobo said: "One small step for me, a giant leap for robots."

Picture Credit : Google