Update Yourself

What it’s like watching Marvel’s ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp’ in a theater where the seats move and water is sprayed in your face

Marvel’s latest movie, “Ant-Man and the Wasp,” is already entertaining on its own. But add in moving seats and water being sprayed at you, and it basically becomes a theme park ride.

That’s the gist of 4DX, a movie-viewing experience that’s not just 3D. The seats move during action sequences, water hits you in the face if characters in the movie go under water, scents are released throughout the theater to emulate smells in the movie, and so on. It pretty much tries to replicate the environment in the movie, and while it obviously can’t do that too closely without getting dangerous, it’s something worth trying. … Read More

Exoskeleton that allows humans to work and play for longer

Would you put on an exoskeleton that meant you could run for an entire day without getting tired?

What about one that would allow you to stay on your feet longer at work?

The technology to give people superhuman strength is currently being developed but the ethical questions about whether we should be developing it and in what circumstances it should be used, are only just beginning to be asked. … Read More

The robot toy helping children to code
From a robot and a drone which teach children to code to a personal training robot BBC Click’s Lara Lewington looks at some of the latest gadgets at London’s Toy Fair.  …Check It

Tech company develops algorithm to greenlight movie scripts

Hollywood’s movie industry could gain another cog in the machine, if one tech company has anything to do with it.

US startup ScriptBook hopes to change the way films get greenlit – or approved for production – by removing the human decision-making from the process altogether.

Nadira Azermai, who founded ScriptBook, sees her company as a possible solution to the nosediving profits besieging Hollywood. ScriptBook uses artificial intelligence to algorithmically decide which screenplays to pursue and which to reject in order to make the most profit and even achieve awards success. … Read More

Educational Technology: Conclusion

The timing has never been better for using technology to enable and improve learning at all levels, in all places, and for people of all backgrounds. From the modernization of E-rate to the proliferation and adoption of openly licensed educational resources, the key pieces necessary to realize best the transformations made possible by technology in education are in place…. Read More

Why does India’s air look different from space?

There is something very distinct about the air over India and the surrounding countries in South Asia.

It is the presence of formaldehyde – a colourless gas that is naturally released by vegetation but also from a number of polluting activities.

The elevated concentrations have been observed by Europe’s new Sentinel-5P satellite, which was launched last October to track air quality worldwide.

The relative low in formaldehyde concentration in north-west India is centred over the desert lands of Rajasthan, where, obviously, there is much less vegetation and fewer people… All affect the air we breathe and therefore our health, and a number of them also play a role in climate change.  … Read More

Screen time before bed linked with less sleep, higher BMIs in kids

Children who reported watching TV or playing video games before bed got an average of 30 minutes less sleep than those who did not, while kids who used their phone or a computer before bed averaged an hour less of sleep than those who did not…. Read More

How Technology Contributes to Student Character Development

As more and more computers and tablets are integrated into schools, some argue that the excessive use of technology can be harmful to students. Though there is validity to those concerns, I know from personal experience that the right balance and leveraging of technology enhances instruction. I’d go even further to argue that the use of these technological tools rather inherently teaches our students several important character traits. … Read More

Family Matters: Do Obligations Encourage Teens to Play it Safe?

The teenage years have long been described as a period of “storm and stress.” It’s a time for parental clashes, moodiness, risky behaviors, and a lot of cringe-worthy confessional songwriting.

But it doesn’t have to be this way… Read More

How Do My Students Think: Diagnosing Student Thinking

Students do not come to school as blank slates to be filled with instruction. Rather, they come to school with considerable knowledge, some correct and some not. Either way, that knowledge is based on intuition, everyday experience, as well as what they have been taught in other settings.

Teachers and researchers generally refer to pre-instructional knowledge as preconceptions. Since a considerable amount of our knowledge is organized by subject matter (mathematics, science, etc.), so too are our preconceptions. Before beginning instruction on any new topic, teachers need to know their students’ preconceptions because learning, and therefore instruction itself, varies depending on whether preconceptions agree with the concepts being taught or contradict those concepts… Read More

This 100-Year-Old Woman Still Works 6 Days a Week

“I don’t think people should be siting idle, doing nothing”

Felimina Rotundo works 11 hours a day, six days a week at a laundromat in Buffalo, N.Y. She washes clothes and handles dry cleaning from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Saturday at the College Laundry Shoppe, and doesn’t plan on calling it quits anytime soon. She is also 100 years old…. Read More

Transitional Tech For Middle School

Middle school is a time of change. Here’s how to anticipate your student’s changing technology needs. ~ Brian Proffitt

Middle school, junior high, intermediate centers—there are lots of names for the schools that teach our kids in the awkward years between elementary school and high school. But their goals are all the same: help students make the transition from one stage of their education career to another. Read More

Homemade Lightsaber!  

It is every Star Wars fan’s dream – a working lightsaber that can destroy enemies in its path. It’s the news that Star Wars fans have been waiting for for years . A 20-year-old US Star Wars fan has created his very own lightsaber – albeit a mini one! The inventor who calls himself ‘The DIY Laser Guy’ has built  a high powered laser replica capable of cutting through household objects. Most things light instantly when placed in the beam of this laser! It can be used to cut common household items like paper, tape and cardboard and even melting a ping pong ball. Check his Video

 Meet the interactive baby avatar: Video

The man who has brought computer generated faces to life in some of Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters including “Avatar” and “King Kong” has unveiled his latest project.

Michelle Obama’s ID details hacked from data brokers

Hackers stole millions of social security numbers by cracking open the networks of large US data brokers, reveals an investigation.

The ID details of Michelle Obama and many other famous people were exposed by the hack attack. Journalist Brian Krebs tracked the information back to hackers who ran an online market for confidential data. Read More

Smallest Living Dog: ‘Miracle Milly’ broke Guinness world record The smallest dog living, in terms of height, is female Chihuahua Miracle Milly, who measures 9.65 cm (3.8 in) tall and is owned by Vanesa Semler of Dorado, Puerto Rico. Born in December 2011, she weighs roughly 1 pound (half a kilogram) and is known for often sticking out her tiny tongue when someone takes her picture. “She knows how to pose,” says Vanesa.

“People are amazed when they see her because she is so small, and she has a big personality. People love her.”

Record breaker: Miracle Milly (Picture: Guinness World Records)

Milly the chihuahua (Source: Guinness World Records/PA)

 To Check Record Breaker Miracle Milly in Action: Click Here

  Bill Gates Admits That ‘Control-Alt-Delete’ Was A Mistake We are confident that Bill Gates is a brilliant guy, but he just admitted to something that the entire world has known for decades. Forcing early computer owners to simultaneously press the difficult key combination of Control-Alt-Delete to log on to their machines was a mistake, the Microsoft co-founder said in an interview at a Harvard fundraising campaign posted on YouTube. “We could have had a single button, but the guy who did the IBM keyboard design didn’t want to give us our single button,” Gates said, explaining that the tricky keyboard maneuver was made to ensure that other apps could not fake the login and steal passwords.  “It was a mistake,” Gates added.   Read More

Google unveils major overhaul of its search engine

Google unveiled a big revamp of its search engine Thursday that affects 90% of the search results served up worldwide by the Internet giant.

“It is really big,” said Google search executive Amit Singhal. The new algorithm makes search results more relevant and useful, especially when users ask more complex questions — something that has been happening a lot more in recent years, Singhal explained. Read More

Stanislav Petrov: The man who may have saved the world

Thirty years ago, on 26 September 1983, the world was saved from potential nuclear disaster.

In the early hours of the morning, the Soviet Union’s early-warning systems detected an incoming missile strike from the United States. Computer readouts suggested several missiles had been launched. The protocol for the Soviet military would have been to retaliate with a nuclear attack of its own.

But duty officer Stanislav Petrov – whose job it was to register apparent enemy missile launches – decided not to report them to his superiors, and instead dismissed them as a false alarm. This was a breach of his instructions, a dereliction of duty. The safe thing to do would have been to pass the responsibility on, to refer up. But his decision may have saved the world.  Read More

Chinese farmer creates his own ‘bionic’ arms from scratch

A Chinese farmer who lost both his hands in a freak accident has built his own pair of prosthetic arms from scratch.