Design Creates Jobs, Says Entrepreneur / Designer Michael Laut: An Interview

Pooja Kashyap

As an entrepreneur / designer / professor heading his own eponymous firm, Laut design, Michael Laut has developed user-centric product and brand development ranges from military and defense applications to biomedical devices, consumer electronics, and many other categories. Lately, we got a chance to talk to Michael on various factors related to ID and the misconception about the profession of Industrial Design. More after a jump: TechieTonics: If we talk about your practice, do you think Dieter Rams’ Ten Principles of Good Design holds true today? Taking the case of…

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The Mental Workspace Discovered

Wa'd Abuzurayk

Do you have a big imagination? Did you have an imaginary friend as a child? Or are you almost always daydreaming?  If you ever wondered about where you get all those ideas/imagery from, then wonder no more. Your question has been recently answered by a group of scientists. In their paper, lead author Alex Schlegel and his colleagues explain that the previously theorized widespread neural network required for human imagination is actually real. Schlegel and his team found evidence for what they called a “mental workspace”. The study was done…

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Ocean, An Epitome Of Stable Nutrient Reservoir

Pooja Kashyap

Understanding the oceanic life-support system has always been a subject under the radar of researchers. Recently, they have postulate a hypothesis according to which the wobbling of Earth on its axis in cyclic motion is responsible for producing a nutrient that determines the health of oceans. Earth’s climatic conditions, size of marine fisheries and aquatic environment all are directly proportional to the health of the oceans, says the study. The investigation conjectures that in the past 160,000 years, nitrogen fixation in the deep sea has increased and decreased in a…

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Robots Will Now ‘Ask’ For Human Help

Pooja Kashyap

Finally, robots will be learning if not all at least some part of human language. Researchers at MIT are teaching robots to interact with humans in human language. Team at MIT taught a group of KUKA’s youBots to ask for help if they happen to face problems while building Ikea furniture. Once the bot determines failure of not completing the task or face some form of huddle which it think cannot pass, it would then call for request in a comprehensible manner.

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Epsilon Soared Into Space To Gaze Planets

Pooja Kashyap

In order to create a mark in the international rocket – launching business, Japan has come up with their new rocket called Epsilon. As per the sources, Epsilon is a cheaper yet efficient solution of sending satellites into space. This is the second rocket after H-II that the nation has launched to improve the reliability and minimize costs. The production of Epsilon has cost around a third of H-II. The reason being its latest computer machines, that can perform self-autonomous tasks, like keeping checks and assembling parts. In order to…

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The Ultrafast Machine Ecology Might Combat Cyber Attacks

Pooja Kashyap

Lately, the global financial market witnessed a quick succession of ‘flash freezes’. A throng of super fast algos is considered as one of the main reasons for these glitches. The algorithms work at a speed, which is beyond human ability to counter and thus, overwhelmed the overall systems. The financial market makes an unexpected and rapid transition into the cyber jungle inhabited by packs of aggressive trading algorithms. These algorithms can operate so fast that humans are unable to participate in real time, and instead, an ultrafast ecology of robots…

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Facebook At The Verge Of Cramming Video Ads Into The News Feed

Pooja Kashyap

Facebook is never afraid of trying new things. Its recent structured status update feature was a huge hit amongst the users. Before that, the cover photo was the much-hyped topic. This time, Facebook is planning to introduce video ads that’ll display on user’s news feed. Unlike the other videos, the ads will start to automatically play but that won’t be annoying, coz the readers/users won’t hear it as it’ll be on mute mode, unless users click on the video. Whether the new feature would harvest revenue or will it drive…

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Startups, An Apprentice For Lifetime

Pooja Kashyap

Being part of a startup is an unending series of learning process. The CEO pays for acquiring new knowledge every day. It’s a perfect school that gives the problem-solving attitude, which proves extremely helpful in later years of life. Period. Working in huge corporations is good, money wise that is. Not to miss the learning skills, which one gains, but getting a problem solve at the grass root level is not in their syllabus. This kind of education can only be learned by going into different roles, which of course…

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TextureCam, An Add-on For Bots In Decision Making

Pooja Kashyap

NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity is extraordinarily smart. Its autonomous navigation system includes driving, digging, shoveling, and even shooting lasers. However, the next gen bots are a step higher and are extremely tuned in. With their advanced computer and camera systems, they are able to identify locations and geographies that are interesting enough to yield important scientific discoveries. Self-autonomous robots and human machine interaction are one of the major areas, which are undergoing research in Robotics. And Curiosity includes both the paradigms. Human engineer at Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) directs it…

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Spider Now A Nano Tech Provider

Pooja Kashyap

The headline sounds a li’l weird but ‘tis true. Electronic wastes and environmental pollution have created demands for innovative solutions. Eco-friendly electronic designs have come to the forefront to combat the problem created by the non-biodegradable plastics. But toxicity again posed a problem. Therefore, the assimilation of natural elements in these designs became mandatory to do away with the poisonous materials. Hence, Scientists at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Tallahassee, Fla are trying to make it a reality. They have come up with a conclusion, which asserts that…

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Gargantuan Volcano Lurking On The Pacific Floor

Pooja Kashyap

A team of researchers from A&M University has discovered a giant volcano resting under the surface of Pacific Ocean, which first they thought to be remnants of multiple volcanoes. Tamu Massif the extinct submarine shield volcano is to be found in the northwestern Pacific Ocean. Surface area of the gargantuan is about 120,000 square miles with peak 2.2 miles high, somewhere around five and a half Mt. Everests hence, eclipsing the current largest subaerial volcano, Mauna Loa on the Hawaiian Islands. It’s probable dead as of now, advocated the researches…

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The Human-Animal Bond: A Healing Power Revealed

Wa'd Abuzurayk

Humans can be sorted into two categories; those who like animals, and those who don’t. For those who like them, animals could be of much more benefit than what was once known in the past. While animals were previously depended on for transportation, food, and the making of clothes, the human-animal bond has been given serious attention by scientists in the last 30 years, revealing a totally new perspective on how animals could be further used for our benefit. Apparently, there is much more to petting an animal than just…

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Internet Spectrum, Expediting Towards A Point Of Overcapacity

Pooja Kashyap

Devices have exceeded the number of people inhabiting on Earth. Everybody wants to stay connected in the virtual world with all the devices that they have. If the trend continuous and reaches the threshold of 50 billion, we would be left with no internet spectrum to connect with. Microsoft’s Stefan Weitz asserted that most devices and applications today use a single frequency. If we were to build mobile apps and devices that were ‘frequency intelligent,’ they could use Wi-Fi (2.4GHz and 5GHz), Bluetooth (2.4GHz) and a variety of cellular network…

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Social Integration, A Part Of Healthy Society

Wa'd Abuzurayk

A healthy society is one that not only allows, but also strives towards the integration of all constituent parts of it. It has been of note recently that more mainstream schools are accommodating to integrate children with special needs into their programmes. This is indeed a great step forward for any society. Such a move would instill the concept of social equality in children, as well as provide them with opportunities to learn from their differences.  However, as with all new opportunities, comes a set of challenges and responsibilities. And…

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Meteor Impact Led To Pastoral Revolution

Pooja Kashyap

It is very likely to think that an meteor colliding with earth may wash out the complete planet. However, what will happen if the size is somewhere between twenty-five square feet, well, the effect will be like a bomb blast. In either of the case, the result will be a disaster. We believe that comet or meteor impact always results in catastrophe but researchers from Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, US believes in possibility that meteor impact could be a reason of initiating civilization. As per the earlier versions of…

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