Japan building robot that would pass college exams

Researchers have teamed up to create an AI that would be smart enough to pass the notoriously difficult entrance exams to the University of Tokyo. Don't expect it to help with your homework though.

It isn't enough that machines can beat the best of us at chess, Jeopardy, and a billion other things. Now they want to rub our faces in our inferiority by getting into our universities and scoffing at us.

Boffins at Fujitsu Labs are teaming up with Japan's National Institute of Informatics (NII) to create an artificial-intelligence system that would be able to pass the entrance exam for the University of Tokyo, one of the most prestigious schools in the country.

The project aims to build an AI that can do well on Japan's nationwide university entrance exams by 2016, and then pass the more difficult exam for Todai, as the top college is known, by 2021.

Human students have to do well on both tests to get into the university, which is known for its brutal admission requirements. It placed eighth in the latest QS Asian University rankings.

It's unclear whether the "Todai robot" will be a humanoid robot. Whatever its form, it will have to master subjects such as physics, chemistry, and history, and answer questions on foreign languages.

NII hopes the project, led by Noriko Arai, will yield insights into human intelligence and foster groundbreaking AI innovations.

Fujitsu, which built one of the fastest supercomputers in the world last year, is helping to improve the robot's math skills.

"NII and Fujitsu Laboratories jointly aim to develop the technologies needed for human-centric IT," Fujitsu said in a release. "These include formula recognition methods to recognize and interpret problem texts and put it into a data format that a computer can understand; natural language processing to generate a formula representation that the formula solver can understand; and formula-processing technology that can solve the composed formula quickly and accurately.

"The hope is that the technologies developed as part of this project will enable anyone to easily use sophisticated mathematical analysis tools."

Sounds like the perfect cover to me.

Google set to buy the GoGooroa Island

A "huge move" in the search engine landscape!
Google, the famous search engine, is set to buy the Island of GoGooroa early next month. This island, located in the Pacific Ocean, has two very special characteristics that attracted the company:

- The island is shaped like the letter "G", strongly ressembling the first letter of the Google name and corporate logo (refer to the attached map).

- It is geographical owner of the ".go" domain, which is coveted by many web site editors around the world.
The search engine company, which is currently headquartered in Mountain View (California), is looking forward to this new site in the Pacific Ocean, on this island which will be officially renamed Googlandin a few weeks.

Its search engine homepage will be also be moved to the "google.go" domain name in the near future.

Google Cooling Entire Data Center With Seawater

Any PC building enthusiast will know the merits of water-cooling. Now Google is taking it to the next level by water-cooling an entire data center.

In 2009 Google purchased a former building of a paper mill in Finland. Since then, the search giant has been hard at work designing a water cooling solution that would take the seawater into the data center and then channel it back out with minimal environment impact.

WORLD's YOUNGEST MICROSOFT CERTIFIED PROFESSIONAL (MCP) ARFA KARIM PASSES AWAY...

Arfa Karim Randhawa, born 1995 in Jatt Randhawa family was a student from Faisalabad in Pakistan, who in 2004 at the age of 9 years, became the youngest Microsoft Certified Professionals (MCPs) in the world, a title she kept until 2008. She was invited by Bill Gates to visit the Microsoft Headquarters in USA.

On returning to Pakistan, Arfa had numerous interviews on almost all of the

 country's known television channels and newspapers. In August 2005, Arfa Karim received the Fatimah Jinnah Gold Medal in the field of Science and Technology, presented by the Prime Minister of Pakistan at that time. She also received the Salaam Pakistan Youth Award again in August 2005 by the President of Pakistan. Arfa Karim was also the recipient of the President's Award for Pride of Performance. This is a very high level civil award granted to people who have shown excellence in their respective fields over a long period of time. Arfa is till now the youngest recipient of that award ever.

Arfa Karim had also represented Pakistan on various international forums, she was invited by the IT Professionals of Dubai for a stay of two weeks in Dubai. A dinner reception was hosted for her there, which was attended by the diagnostics of Dubai including the Ambassador of Pakistan. During that trip, Arfa was presented with various medals and awards. She also flew a plane in a flying club in Dubai at the age of 10, and received the first flight certificate.

In November 2006, Arfa was invited by Microsoft to be a part of the keynote session in the Tech-Ed Developers conference held in Barcelona. The theme of the conference was "Get ahead of the game" and Arfa was presented as a true specimen of being ahead of the game. She was the only Pakistani among over 5000 developers in that conference.

As of 2011, at the age of 16, Arfa Karim was studying at Lahore Grammar School Paragon Campus in her second year of A Level. She suffered from cardiac arrest after an epileptic seizure on December 22, 2011 and was admitted to Lahore's Combined Military Hospital (CMH) in critical condition.

On January 2, 2012 Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani visited the hospital with his daughter Fiza Batol Gilani to inquire about the health of Arfa Karim Randhawa.

On January 9, 2012, Bill Gates, Chairman of Microsoft, has made contact with Arfa's parents, and directed his doctors to adopt "every kind of measure" for her treatment.

On January 13, 2012, The condition of world's youngest MCP Arfa Karim improved and some parts of her brain showed signs of improvement. Arfa fell desperately ill last month and doctors said she had suffered brain damage, leaving her in a coma at the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) in Lahore. Her father, Amjad Karim Randhawa, said Microsoft had raised the possibility of flying Arfa to the US for care.

On January 14, 2012 Arfa Karim Passed away at 9:50 PM (Pakistan Standard Time) at Combined Military Hospital (CMH) Lahore. She had remained in intensive care unit at Combined Military Hospital (CMH) after suffering an epileptic seizure and cardiac arrest a few weeks ago.

Rest in peace Arfa! We will be proud of you always. Today the world has lost an IT gem for sure.

Latest Technology Mouse

Intel unveils new Reference Design Smartphone

 Intel came out with a great big bang at the first day of CES 2012. Paul Otellini, President and CEO, Intel Corporation, graced the keynote floor to give tech enthusiasts some exciting news. After a brief introduction from the President and CEO of CES, David Shapiro, Otellini took centre-stage, in stark contrast to Steve Ballmer who shared the limelight with Ryan Seacrest.

Not with ultrabooks or PC computing, but Otellini kicked off his CES keynote with Intel’s focus on smartphone computing. Promising the audience that the best of Intel computing will now be available for smartphones this year, he went on to unveil the new Intel Reference Design Smartphone, kind of a platform to ensure the best end user experience on a smartphone.

Gary Shapiro CEO of CES (right) invites Paul Otellini, Intel CEO, to begin his keynote.

To drive home his point in the jubilant and expectant crowd of journalists assembled in The Venetian ballroom, Otellini welcomed on stage Liu Jun, Senior Vice President and President of Mobile Internet and Digital Home Group, Lenovo, to pull a rabbit out of the hat.

Mr. Jun wasted no time in pulling out the Lenovo K800, the world’s first Intel architecture smart phone to instant applause within the crowd. The phone is based on the 1.6-GHz Intel Medfield processor, has a 4.5-inch 720p display, and runs Android 2.3. The Lenovo K800 also sports an 8 MP camera with support up to ISO 3200. It will be launched in China in Q2 2012 and shortly after the rest of the world.

Some of the highlights of Intel’s Reference Design Smartphone are smart phones touting an 8MP camera, 15 fps compatibility, HDMI 1080p video playback 6 hours, audio playback of up to 45 hours, as well as 3G talk time of 8 hours, and standby time of 14 days. Plus, it’s more energy efficient. Without a doubt, Intel has built a great platform to build upon.

After a brief hands-on demo of the Reference Design Smartphone, Otellini also invited on stage Sanjay Jha, CEO of Motorola Mobility to announce a strategic, multi-year partnership between Intel and Motorola. Under this development, Motorola will start shipping smart phones based on the Atom and Android platform by the second half of 2012.

So without a doubt, Intel came out with all guns blazing to signal its intent to enter the smart phone market with a huge bang.

Logitech CUBE

With the arrival of 2012, many of the inventions have already started taking place in the market. One among such inventions is Logitech® Cube. Logitech has introduced its new range of mice, Logitech® Cube in this very month of January, 2012 up for sale. The unique design, easy to handle and a complete official package is all what the wireless Logitech cube holds in its features. The appearance is similar to a match box due to its tiny cube form but with a shiny and glossy touch added to it. The shape is so very unique that now working with mice will all be the play of one's fingers. It also acts as a presenter where it can present your PowerPoint presentations by simply up-holding the cube slightly from the desk, in the air. As the mouse detects its posture, it automatically turns into the presenter mode and will smoothly assist you in your conferences. All this is due to laser technique and touch sensors used in it.

The Cube also accompanies the tiny Logitech Unifying receiver with it. The receiver features the Logitech Advanced 2.4 GHz connectivity and its tiny form factor that keeps plugged into your laptops/PCs comfortably. It also gives you the opportunity to connect six compatible devices like a keyboard, number pad or another mouse with no more requirements of multiple USB receivers; keeping your ports free. Thus, its small form factor provides the user with wireless convenience as he can move with his laptop to any place without the hassle of cords.

It's called the Cube, and though it looks a bit more like a rectangular prism.

The Cube is a work cum personal geeky tool as it can be easily fitted into the user’s pocket and can be used at any time and at any place when the need arises. Moreover, it has an On/Off switch button on to its front that will help you with saving the power and necessity to use according to its time of use. The Cube also comes with a pre-installed AA lithium rechargeable battery, USB charging cord, a pouch and the user documentation along with it. The smoother screen movement just adds the perfection to its use, as it can glide smoothly to go on to next slide or swipe your fingers on the main panel to move up and down the page. All this is thankfully done because of Logitech’s Flow Scroll software that gives you the experience similar to your touchscreen Smartphones.

Relayer Handset

Modern facilities, like cell phones, internet connection and Wi-Fi, have truly proved to be a blessing in the life of human. These help us stay connected with every corner of the world and have shrunken the planet in terms of communication. Olavo Monken has designed the Relayer Handset, which will redefine the whole concept of connection.

Relayer has been designed keeping the benefits of cell phones in mind. Unlike, fixed line or cordless options, mobile phones can be carried anywhere without losing connection. The concept of connection is quite scattered in today’s life because of the birth of many devices like internet modem, cable TV, phones, etc. They don’t solve any purpose when you are not around or can access them. But, Relayer will make sure that you always remain connected irrespective of the fact whether you are at home or office or anywhere.

Simply, dock your Relayer wherever you are and see its unfurl magic. It will provide signal for your Wi-Fi TV and will act as an internet hotspot for your laptop. It will make sure that all the calls are diverted to your voIP device or laptop. Relayer is a handy gadget that will delete the need of additional networks required at home and in office. Everything will be clubbed in a single device, hence no need of installing additional cables and antennas. The best part being, each dock as well as the phone has a data storage disk that makes sure all the data are kept safe. All the data will automatically get synced when Relayer is docked.

Relayer handset is all about connectivity that will be always there when you need it.

Seven serene and splendid wooden gadgets

Technology keeps growing every day and with the passage of time new inventions are made. Everybody loves gadgets that are the outcome of new technology. Now, wooden gadgets are also being made to help us become environment friendly and conscious about our surroundings. Here we have a collection of serene and splendid wooden gadgets to stun you all.

1. Wooden watches

2. MP3 wooden speakers

3. Wooden radio

4. Wooden stand

5. iDear

6. Wood music speaker dock

7. Plywood headphones

Air Piano

You know you have these coming music geeks. Before the piano virtuoso in you judge this gadget, read on first to see if the airpiano is can be really called a radical new musical instrument or it belongs to the realms of Guitar Hero or amusement arcades. The airpiano is basically a MIDI and OSC controller with invisible mid-air keys and faders. It features a simple touch-free control that uses 3D hand gestures that enables musicians and performers to play music in the “air” with no need for a visual interface. The airpiano has a matrix of 24 discrete keys and 8 faders, making it very simple to trigger MIDI and OSC messages. The airpiano by itself can’t produce any sounds. It must communicate with the custom airpiano software installed on a computer which in turn sends the MIDI and Open Sound Control (OSC) messages to other software or hardware. When a key or a fader in the air has been triggered, the software registers the actions and sends messages out accordingly. Numerous arrangement presets combining keys and faders can be set and assigned with different properties and message types.

Appearance wise, the airpiano is no slouch. It’s not exactly made from exotic maple or beech but it still looks classy with its beautiful walnut wood with red acrylic glass construction.

Features:
• 40 LEDs provide easy orientation and visual feedback
• 1 momentary button allows switching between presets directly from the device
• ¼-inch connector for using an expression pedal or a foot switch
• Power 9Vdc
• USB 2.0
• Dimensions: 960 x 160 x 26 mm; Weight: 2.8 kg

Sixth Sense Technology by Pranav Mistry

At a TED conference in 2009, MIT researcher Pranav Mistry demonstrated Sixth Sense, a wearable projector that lets us use simple hand gestures to interact with information. For instance, you can hold a book in your hands, the device will pick reviews of that book from the Internet and will project them on to the book cover itself.

Sixth Sense is fascinating technology, the total cost of the hardware is under $350 and all the software will be open source. During a Q&A with TED curator Chris Anderson, Pranav hinted that the software could be released in December 2009 but the wait continues.

Now imagine for a moment if we could integrate some parts of the Sixth Sense technology - like the hologram floating in mid-air or those multi-touch gesturees - into the next iPad or mobile phone?

Zach King, a film student from LA, has created this neat video where the iPad screen is projected in the form of a hologram and users can interact with the various apps using natural hand gestures. Futuristic but not impossible.

Gavio's- The Pill

When your head aches, you pop a pill, right? The same is true when your stomach aches or you catch a fever. In fact, even as simple as catching a cold or cough, you also pop a pill to relieve you from the discomfort. There are actually a lot of things that one can do in order to get relief from various medical conditions which are often brought by stress, but the simplest and the most common is by popping a pill. And so, Gavio has thought about the same concept when they created The Pill, only that this pill is not made for popping but for enjoying music, which is also one best form of getting stress relief.

Take a look at the image above and there’s no wonder why it’s named as such. But The Pill is not your typical pill, it’s actually a docking speaker for your iPod Nano 6th Gen. You see, whether you’ve experienced it or not, music can do wonders to our body system. When we get up in the morning and listen to some upbeat music, we feel upbeat too, right? And when we’re off to bed at night and play some classical or slow music, we feel relaxed and dozed off to sleep because of the soothing music, right? So really, music can do a lot for us, and for some depressed people, it can actually do more than just relaxing the mind and body, it can also heal.

3D Vaio by Sony

In order to be synchronize with BRAVIA glasses 3D laptop computer by Sony will boast of IR blaster. Lodged in F series chassis, the laptop contains display of 16”, so it can also be used for PS3. For games and videos, this laptop comes up with 1080p 240fps display. You can upgrade it from 2D to 3D with Blu-ray drives. In order to retain crystal clear picture quality, 3D VAIO uses the same technology in BRAVIA TV, with Black Frame Insertion. 3D VAIO used sequential technology for HD display while utilizing shutter glass. With just one touch button you can change between 2D to 3D. So, 3D VAIO would be a 0utstanding electronic gadget of 2011.

iGeek Large Capacity Portable Charger

Do you still bring two or more separate chargers for your iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, and other devices when you are on the go? If you do, well it’s time you get yourself a charger that charges not just one device but two devices at the same time. This will definitely save you a lot of baggage weight and space, not to mention, the inconvenience of waiting for one device to be fully charged before you can charge another. Introducing the iGeek Large Capacity Portable Charger!

As its name implies, this battery pack is indeed highly portable and features a large capacity, so you can carry it anytime, anywhere and charge two devices at once. At first, you might think that it’s just for Apple products as it’s name iGeek sounds like iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. But don’t be deceived because this portable charger can actually charge even non-Apple products such as Android, Blackberry, Samsung, Nintendo DS, Sony PSP, and more. So don’t let a drained gadget take the fun out of your party, vacation, or any travel at that. Make sure you have this iGeek portable charger always on hand, so your devices will never run out of juice again.

Here, check out the brief summary of this product’s features:

* Ultra reliable lithium ion battery with 9900 maH capacity at 5v output voltage
* Will easily give you over a week of battery boosts for your device (with normal use)
* 1 amp & 2 amp ports, charge two devices at the same time!
* 50 hours of movie time for iPhone, iPod touch or 17 hours movie time for iPad 2
* Compatible with:
o iPhone (3G, 3GS, 4, 4S)
o iPad, iPad2
o iPod Touch, Nano, Classic
o Android
o Blackberry
o Other Stuff (Kindle, Nintendo DS, Sony PSP, and many more – Standard USB charging cable required)
* Retractable USB cable included
* No iPhone/iPad adapter is included because it works with the one you already have
* Rubberized black finish
* Batteries: Lithium ion (plug in to recharge)
* DC transformer input: 100v-240v
* Weight (main unit): 8.6 oz

Mintpass dual screen tablet computer

The Mintpass dual screen tablet computer concept is quite plausible. With this new dual screen tablet laptop you will be able to watch video clip on one screen and surf the web on the other screen simultaneously.

i-Shower Bluetooth-enabled Shower Speaker

Love singing in the shower, never mind that the neighbors absolutely loathe your vocal range?

Here is the i-Shower Bluetooth-enabled Shower Speaker that will debut at CES 2012, where it is compatible with Bluetooth-enabled devices within a 200 feet radius, so that means you can leave your iPad, iPhone, iPod or Android device right outside the bathroom without missing a beat. Brought to you by the very same people who manufactured the iGrill Bluetooth cooking thermometer. This water resistant, Bluetooth-enabled speaker will be able to play music straight from all Apple devices (including iPhones and iPods) and Android devices.

The iShower is mounted in your shower, and you can also opt to bring it outdoors with you to the beach or pool for up to 15 hours, although there is no word on what real life performance is like. The iShower is capable of remembering up to 5 Bluetooth pairings· Key features include play/pause/forward/rewind & volume functions, running on a trio of AA batteries, showing off the current time, and doubles up as an optional anti-fog shower mirror. Expect to fork out $99.99 for the iShower.

Bell Howell Spy Pen

After surfing the net looking for reviews on various Spy Pens, I found out many interesting and not so interesting things about this Bell Howell Spy Pen. Let’s proceed first to the interesting part.

This pen can be used in spying for someone else and is easy to use of course after careful reading of the manual. This is very useful, if you are trying to record some hidden videos and audios alike. While some reviews find it a more disturbing since some are being cloned by china products, which are less durable and less efficient. I mean, why anyone would use a clone spy pen making them confused since what they bought cannot give them the service as expected.


Video Recording Spy Pen

This Bell Howell’s Spy Pen can be very efficient, if used and placed in a really nice place like for example, you need to spy on something like a game strategy, then you can place it either near a PC table or within the room just set it up of course to capture the video real good – if a way you expect the pen would.

It has a 4GB memory (internal) which allows the user to store a rather long video with a resolution of 1280X960 pixel making it clear and concise.
After recording videos, you can now connect it to PC and no driver is needed for it since it is supported by a plug and play feature of each and every PC.
It records the video at higher resolution up to 1280X960 pixels @ 30 frames per second in AVI format.
It also supports picture capture at 1600X1200 pixel resolution and stores in JPEG image format.
It has a 150mAh, Lithium-ion polymer battery which stands good when compared to other spy pen models in the market.
It works with both Windows as well as Mac platforms interfaced through a mini-USB (5-pin type).
See what users are saying about this Bell Howell Spy Pen.
Finally, you can also write with this Spy Pen  and it comes with 1 Year warranty.

Obama Farting Doll

There is one great thing about the US – you can more or less poke fun at the President, whom many tout to be the most powerful man in the world, without getting hauled to court. Such freedoms are definitely not possible at all in countries like North Korea, and with a capitalist mindset here Stateside, why not make light of your leader and earn some money on the side at the same time? This is what the $19.95 Obama Farting Doll is all about, and unlike some of his policies, no hot air can be detected here.

The Pootin’ Tootin’ President Obama Doll is certain to win votes for folks who want something really funny – all you need to do is press the Commander and Chief’s finger, and your ears will soon be greeted with a fart, followed by one out of 21 different, hilarious remarks which will be spewed out randomly. Measuring 9? in height, each purchase will already come with batteries so you can get started right out of the box. Scary how the very same finger might actually be used to launch a nuclear missile when all peace talks have broken down.

QPAD MK85 Gaming Keyboard

Hardcore PC gamers are already beyond the realm of ordinary computer peripherals. Just like how you wouldn’t arm the marines with flint lock pistols you wouldn’t arm gamers with common keyboards, unless of course they are to be delegated as cannon fodders. A common keyboard would have a problem keeping up with the whirlwind of keystrokes and button mashing gamers pull off during intense plays. Serious gaming needs some pretty hardcore gears, and right now nothing can be more hardcore than the new QPAD MK-85 gaming keyboard. Hailing from a renowned eSports equipment manufacturer, this keyboard represents the pinnacle of features that every player would want from their gaming keyboard or from Santa.

The main feature of the QPAD MK-85 is that it is the first mechanical keyboard that offers full N-key roll over (NKRO) capabilities using a USB connector instead of the old PS/2 connector. To the uninitiated, this means that the player can press any number of keys simultaneously and they will register – totally eliminating ghosting and key jamming.

Here’s the official specifications and run down of the other great features of the QPAD MK85 gaming keyboard:

• Cherry MX mechanical switch technology
• 50 Million keystrokes
• Individual LED backlight with four levels of brightness on every key for enhanced visuals
• Gold plated USB connectors for significantly lower latency
• Volume control, play, pause and skip tracks media keys
• Comes with two high speed USB 2.0 ports
• 3.5 mm. headphone-out and microphone-in jacks
• 1.8 meter tangle-free braided cable
• 4 extra orange key caps and key cap puller
• Keyboard Dimensions: 17.6 x 5.8 x 1.37 inches
• Weight: 2.8 lbs
• 2-year warranty
• Software: Customizable profiles, programmable keys and macro recording

Find more QPAD products at GeekieStore.

Categories : Computer and Accessories, Electronic Gadgets, Game Zone, Tech ToysTags : gaming, gaming keyboard, mechanical keyboard, MK-50, MK-85, n-key rollover, N-keyRollover, nkey rollover, NKRO, polyphony, QPAD, QPAD MK-50, QPAD MK-85