Smart contact lenses for health and head-up displays

Lenses that monitor eye health are on the way, and in-eye 3D image displays are being developed too – welcome to the world of augmented vision

THE next time you gaze deep into someone's eyes, you might be shocked at what you see: tiny circuits ringing their irises, their pupils dancing with pinpricks of light. These smart contact lenses aren't intended to improve vision. Instead, they will monitor blood sugar levels in people with diabetes or look for signs of glaucoma.

The lenses could also map images directly onto the field of view, creating head-up displays for the ultimate augmented reality experience, without wearing glasses or a headset. To produce such lenses, researchers are merging transparent, eye-friendly materials with microelectronicsIn 2008, as a proof of concept, Babak Parviz at the University of Washington in Seattle created a prototype contact lens containing a single red LED. Using the same technology, he has now created a lens capable of monitoring glucose levels in people with diabetes.

It works because glucose levels in tear fluid correspond directly to those found in the blood, making continuous measurement possible without the need for thumb pricks, he says. Parviz's design calls for the contact lens to send this information wirelessly to a portable device worn by diabetics, allowing them to manage their diet and medication more accurately.

Lenses that also contain arrays of tiny LEDs may allow this or other types of digital information to be displayed directly to the wearer through the lens. This kind of augmented reality has already taken off in cellphones, with countless software apps superimposing digital data onto images of our surroundings, effectively blending the physical and online worlds

iPhone 5 releasing with A8 SoC processor?

                                    


The rumors have started deluging the web world with the impending arrival of the iPhone 5. Since expectations are high that Apple will release the next version of the iPhone, come summer, the latest bit of word doing the rounds is that the iPhone 5 will come with the A8 System-on-Chip processor.

The news comes from a firm called Kinsus in Taiwan thatsupplies Apple with parts for devices and will also supply the new customised A8 processor. Along with the A8 processor,

Apple is also said to be including a Qualcomm baseband to support both CDMA and GSM versions. Also future devices of Apple promise to deliver better graphics with the help of next-gen GPU architecture,

SGX543 build by Imagination Technologies. Well having said all that, the fact is that all these are rumors and confirmation from the horse’s mouth is still awaited.

Tips to make your browser secure

                                                                  

Web browsers are the key to the internet. Without them the internet is an impenetrable black box.

Browsers may be among the most commonly used applications, but they also offer the greatest number of attack options for dangerous content on the net. To keep viruses, worms and other malware away from your computer when surfing, it's crucial to configure your browser   for security.

The firewall on a DSL router is a good first step for protecting the computer during surfing, says Marco Rinne from the computer portal chip.de. But that doesn't hold true if your browser is out of date: “Internet Explorer 6 and 7 or Firefox 2 no longer satisfy current security standards,” he says. For optimal protection, he therefore urges users to keep their browsers updated.

There are numerous security tools already present in Firefox and Internet Explorer. The pop-up blocker, for example, prevents more than just annoying ads. It also throttles other windows that can be used to sneak malicious software onto PCs. Phishing filters protect personal data against theft.

Firefox offers additional configuration options under the Settings item in the Security tab of the Options dialog box: this includes the ability to block risky or forged websites. It's also a good idea to prohibit websites from installing add-ons on their own. Similar settings are possible under Internet Explorer in the Security tab of the Internet Options dialog box, accessible from the Tools menu.

Computer owners should also activate all options for warning against attacks, advises Markus Linnemann, managing director of the Institute for Internet Security (ifis) at the Polytechnic University of Gelsenkirchen in Germany. This applies in particular to warnings about suspicious content to be displayed using ActiveX, Flash, or JavaScript.

Yet the warning mechanism on most browsers alone isn't usually enough, Linnemann says. Those who wish to be especially careful can, for example, use the Firefox add-on 'No Script,' which blocks all active content of a website by default and allows the user to decide which should be permitted. The problem is that most users are unable to determine   which content represents a threat to their computer, Rinne msays.

Now, Google can solve Sudoku!

                                     


A new mobile phone ‘app’ from Google can now solve Sudoku, the popular maths puzzle which took the world by storm with its simple grid of digits and empty boxes - no matter what the level of difficulty.

In fact, any cell phone can now solve the puzzle, thanks to the latest version of ‘Google Goggles’ which uses a cell phone’s camera to capture a picture of any Sudoku and then sends it back to Google.

The company’s servers compute the answers and send an image of the completed puzzle back to the user. Depending on the speed of the phone’s internet connection, the results can be back in seconds.

“When you finally solve a real mind-bender, it brings a rush of achievement. I hope Google’s new tool won’t diminish that feeling,” ‘The Daily Telegraph’ quoted its Puzzles Editor Phil McNeill as saying.

Google Goggles works by capturing images and sending them to the company’s central servers. They are then compared to the firm’s vast web index, just as if they were a search term entered as text.

The new version of Goggles means that, along with landmarks and other well known images, the software now also recognises adverts, barcodes and Sudoku.

Goggles is available on the iPhone and all Google Android phones

Featured Technology Talk: China introduces new software to check corruption

            With corruption among official ranks emerging as a major menace, a Chinese provincial government has introduced a computer software which continuously monitor the work of officials.
"If an official violates the protocol when dealing with a case, a red light will flicker," Ding Haiyang, head of the discipline department of the bureau told official Xinhua newsagency.

The system enables public to follow their case, know the result of the official's work on a website and make complaints online, Ding said.

"Since the system was installed, every official has tried his best to finish his part of his work in time and hand it to colleagues in the next step.

A survey shows most Chinese believe relations with the U.S. worsened last year, and the overwhelming majority blame Washington for the decline.

The figures published in the official China Daily newspaper on Monday come just ahead of Chinese President Hu Jintao's state visit to the U.S. this week.

The figures say 53 percent of those responding saw relations with the U.S. getting worse last year. Just over 80 percent blame the deterioration of ties on Washington.