image source : google

Humans have been crafting shelters out of reliable wood ever since our ancestors solved the problem of chopping down trees. In everything from simple huts made of branches, to broad pavilions with large timbers set in post-holes, wood has always featured prominently.

In Europe, there's evidence of wooden structures from at least 4000 B.C. Humans were building probably well before that. This is given that wood typically doesn't hold up well after being buried for millennia. And the ones that are still standing today aren't mere hovels. Switzerland claims the House of Bethlehem, from 1287 A.D. The famous Urnes stave church in Norway was erected around 1130 A.D. And the great-grandtemple of them all is standing at 122 feet tall. It is Japan's Horyu-ji pagoda. It was built in 607 A.D.

    image source : google

But wood can only build so high. So as cities grew, builders began to use new materials. The modern skyline in many cities is almost exclusively shiny glass and polished stone. The materials are supported by steel and concrete.

Yet now, wood is making a comeback. And it's in a new way.

One big boon is a material called cross-laminated timber. Architects and engineers hope it will make big buildings lighter, cheaper to build and more environmentally friendly. Just call it CLT.

"I've been here for nearly 30 years now. And during that time there've only been a few items that have generated a bit of buzz and interest. This is one of those items," said David Kretschmann. He is a research engineer. He works with the U.S. Forest Service's Forest Products Laboratory (FPL). It is in Madison, Wisconsin.

In use in Europe for nearly 20 years, CLT and other so-called mass timber products have been key design elements. When finished, University of British Columbia's Brock Commons 18-story building will hold the record for tallest CLT-constructed structure. And 18 stories is by no means the limit. Swedish architects have proposed a 34-story wooden building. Researchers and architects have designed an 80-story, one million square-foot giant at the Barbican in London, primarily made of wood. At 984 feet tall, it would rank as the world's 18th tallest building. It would rank just ahead of Four World Trade Center in New York City.

      

technews worldnews

May 31, 2017

 source: google

International air travelers might soon rediscover magazines. They may also pick up paperbacks and playing cards, too.

Airline passengers have become hooked on their laptops and tablets. The machines help to get work done. Or, they are used to kill time during long flights. But U.S. aviation-security officials appear determined to ban large electronic devices in the cabin of flights from Europe.

Business travelers are worried about lost productivity. In addition, laptops in checked baggage could be stolen or damaged. Some passengers have considered even leaving the machine home. That is if their employer won't let them check it on a plane. Parents are pondering how to keep children occupied.

Now, U.S. and European Union officials have exchanged information about threats to aviation. These are believed to include bombs hidden in laptop computers. Airline and travel groups are concerned about the possibility that a ban on laptops and tablet computers that currently applies to mostly Middle Eastern flights will be expanded. That ban might be extended to include U.S.-bound flights from Europe.

 

The airlines are still talking to government officials about how a laptop ban would look at European airports. It will require one set of screening rules for U.S.-bound travelers. Another set of rules would be required for people headed elsewhere.

Nearly 400 flights leave Europe for the U.S. each day. They carry about 85,000 people. The figures are according to the airline industry and U.S. government figures.

The laptop ban in March covered far fewer flights. It was about 50 on an average day. It hurt Middle Eastern carriers by targeting their hub airports. Emirates blamed the ban among factors reducing demand. It has scaled back flights to the U.S.

Expanding the ban to Europe will hit American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines and their European partners. And it will affect many more travelers.

Airlines fear that expanding the ban will lead to more flight delays and increase their liability for theft or damage to electronics devices in checked luggage. Safety advocates worry that putting devices with lithium batteries in the cargo hold will create a fire threat.

Airline groups propose several alternatives to the laptop ban. These include more use of machines that detect residue from explosives. Or, turning devices on to demonstrate that they are not bombs. They may also sort low-risk passengers from high-risk ones. This is presumably to let frequent travelers keep their laptops in the cabin.
 
Michael McCormick is the executive director of the Global Business Travel Association. He said he believes the threat identified by security officials is real. But he said the laptop ban will hurt business travel, at least in the short term.
 
The International Air Transport Association is a trade group for global airlines. The association said banning laptops in the cabin would cost passengers $1.1 billion a year.
 
"Businesses will cancel trips rather than risk having laptops checked due to risk to confidential information," said the group's CEO. He is Alexandre de Juniac.

Edward Pizzarello is an investor in a Washington-area venture-capital firm. He also writes a travel blog. Pizzarello is holding off booking a July business trip to Germany and the United Kingdom. This is "until I figure out what's going on."

"Maybe I don't take the trip," he said. "That's one of the options. It's not my first option."

Small business consultant Gene Marks said he and many of his clients work when flying to and from Europe. Still, he tried to put the annoyance of a ban in perspective.

technews worldnews

May 31, 2017

Introducing the first ”X” series smartphones – Xperia X, Xperia X Performance and Xperia XA featuring new camera and battery technology

Today we’ve announced the Xperia™ X, Xperia™ X Performance and Xperia™ XA, making up our new “X” series smartphones. All three devices feature increasingly advanced camera and battery technology, with the Xperia X and Xperia X Performance incorporating a 23MP rear camera and a 5” Full HD 1080p display. Each phone is powered to make the most of their advanced capabilities via the Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 650 processor (Xperia X), the Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 820 processor (Xperia X Performance) and Mediatek Helio™ P10 (Xperia XA). We have also announced plans for a range of smart products aimed to make use of exciting technology such as machine learning and sensing.

New adaptive charging technology and Predictive Hybrid Autofocus

New for the Xperia “X” series is the increased focus on battery life. By using adaptive charging technology realised together with Qnovo, the lifespan of the Xperia X and Xperia X Performance smartphone batteries is made to last up to twice as long. Smart battery management is also incorporated to prolong battery length from every charge.

Advancements have also been made in the “X” series cameras. To make the best use of the advanced camera technology the Xperia X and Xperia X Performance provide an all-new Predictive Hybrid Autofocus, helping the user predict an object’s motion and capture its action in perfect focus.

Xperia X – with a 23 MP camera and 5” Full HD TRILUMINOUS display

The Xperia X features an impressive 23MP camera with a 24 mm wide-angle G lens and a 5x clear image zoom. Paired with Sony’s new Predictive Hybrid Autofocus and the phone’s Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 650 processor, the camera is made faster and smarter than in previous products. The 13MP front camera has received a 1/3.06” sensor which together with Sony’s renowned low-light sensors makes for better pictures in low light conditions. The Xperia X also boasts a 5” Full HD 1080p TRILUMINOUS display and a 3GB RAM with up to 32 GB flash memory. The uSD slot provides the possibility for an expansion of up to 200GB and the Xperia X is available in both Single and Dual SIM variants

Xperia X PerformanceThe Xperia X Performance incorporates the same exciting camera and memory capabilities as the Xperia X. Where the phone truly excels is through its waterproof design and its Qualcomm 820 snapdragon quad-core 64 bit processor. Paired with its Cat9 connection speeds, it’s perfect for speedy downloads and other entertainment purposes. The Xperia X Performance is also available in both Single and Dual SIM variants

Xperia XAXperia XA features an 8MP front and a 13MP rear camera including a 5x clear image zoom allowing for HDR photo and highly responsive sensors to give sharp photos in low light. This super mid-range phone contains a 5” HD 720p display and is powered by a Mediatek Helio™ P10 processor. Its memory includes a 2GB RAM with a flash memory of up to 16GB and an expandable memory capability up to 200GB.

Colours and availabilityXperia X, Xperia X Performance and Xperia XA will come in White, Graphite Black, Lime Gold and Rose Gold, globally from early Summer 2016.

Developing for the Xperia “X” seriesAs previous Xperia smartphones, the “X” series is Android-based, making it easy to develop apps for these and other Xperia devices using the Android SDK. You can also create professional-looking themes with Sony’s Theme Creator BETA tool. Soon we will also release an SDK that lets you create AR themes for the AR Effect camera app.

mobiletech

May 30, 2017

When Nic Wehmeyer, an associate creative director from Brooklyn, visited Los Angeles recently, he was determined to check out the future of entertainment. But rather than tour one of the big movie studios, he headed to a nondescript building with blacked-out windows across the street from trendy L.A. mall the Grove. There, in Imax Corp.’s first pilot virtual reality center in the U.S., he and his buddies had their senses engaged in ways no conventional film can match. “The multiplayer game was by far the most enjoyable,” says Wehmeyer. “The immersive, shared experience was a lot of fun and something I would totally do again.”

Imax, best known for its high-tech movie screens, hopes others will feel the same at its new VR parlors. For $1 a minute, a group of friends can experience flight as eagles above a deserted Paris or dive into a world of criminals as assassin John Wick from the movie franchise of the same name. Ticketing is similar to most theaters: You can book time slots in advance online or purchase them at the center. 

Imax says the initial reception to VR content—often around 10 minutes—at the Imax VR center in L.A. has been so enthusiastic that it’s increasing the number of locations, to 11 from 6, for the rollout. On May 26 the company will open its second VR parlor in the U.S. at a multiplex in Manhattan. A total of five U.S. centers are planned, as well as locations in Tokyo; Shanghai; Toronto; Manchester, England; the Middle East; and France. “The idea of the pilot phase was to pick a variety of locations, with different characteristics so we could ascertain what kind of areas this worked in and didn’t,” says Imax Chief Executive Officer Richard Gelfond. “It’s really a learning phase.”

Technology and entertainment companies are racing for a slice of the virtual-reality business that analysts at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. estimate could generate $80 billion in revenue by 2025. With U.S. movie market growth stagnating, exhibitors are looking for new ways to widen their audience. 

Consumers have been slow to embrace the expensive hardware necessary to enjoy virtual reality at home, which can cost $1,600 for the Oculus VR bundle of a headset and a computer powerful enough to run the games. VR content is also expensive, and there’s a limited amount of it available. “One of the catalysts was that it was getting less traction in the home than was expected,” Gelfond says. “We thought that might be an opportunity.”  

In the first four months of 2017, the L.A. center registered more than 25,000 admissions and an average revenue of $15,000 per week. It estimates that 100 locations could contribute about $25 million in annual revenue.

Imax recently cut a deal with Time Warner Inc.’s Warner Bros. for VR content linked to future DC Comics Inc. superhero movies such as Justice League and Aqua-man. For a time, the content will run exclusively in the centers.

Unlike in L.A., the center in New York will give Imax feedback on how consumers react to a facility next to a theater. “You walk out of a movie all excited about having seen John Wick or The Avengers, and you can walk right next door and continue that by being immersed in the experience,” says Eric Wold, an analyst at B. Riley & Co. Given the novelty of the experience, he says some in the industry think Imax’s pricing may be too low.

Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox Inc. has been one of the most active companies to develop virtual-reality projects linked to features from its movie studio. Its most recent, Alien: Covenant in Utero, is a virtual-reality journey released on April 26, based on the prequel Alien: Covenant. It was available on Facebook Inc.’s Oculus and Samsung Gear headsets.

Fox has also invested in Dreamscape Immersive, another location-based VR experience, which will open its flagship venue at Westfield Century City mall in L.A. later this year. Instead of being tethered to a computer, as users at most Imax center games are, Dreamscape customers can walk inside a virtual space. The mall operator and Steven Spielberg are among the investors.

“The location-based attractions that are developing all around the world are going to be the first way many consumers see V.R,” says Sail Mehta, president of Fox Next, the Fox division that oversees its V.R ventures. “We see this as the beginning of something that will revolutionize the way stories are told.”

mobiletech technews

May 30, 2017

Andy Rubin, the Google veteran who built Android into the world’s largest mobile operating system, is convinced that artificial intelligence is the next big thing.

Rubin is the founder of Playground Global, a hardware and software incubator and venture capital firm overseeing at least $300 million. A veteran of past technology transitions, Rubin is now thinking about what could be the next big change to ripple through the industry.

"New computing platforms happen every 10 to 12 years," he said at the Bloomberg Technology Conference, citing MS-DOS, Windows PCs and mobile as examples. "What’s the next platform?... It’s about data and people training AI systems to learn."

The executive backed that bet up by revealing he and Redpoint Ventures have invested in a startup working on quantum computing, which promises to perform many more calculations than typical machines by tapping into the properties of subatomic particles.

Rubin thinks it’s the right time to create quantum computers based on the same processes used to make traditional chips, and then get those machines to run AI algorithms. The resulting computer could be so powerful that there’d only be need for one in the world, he said.

Besides the quantum company, which Rubin declined to identify, Playground has backed 14 other startups, he said. One of them makes a transponder for drones, another a backpack-sized wearable speaker that vibrates the body in time with music.

Rubin worked at Google for almost a decade ran its Android smartphone initiative, then led the acquisitions of numerous robotics companies to form an internal group code-named Replicate . He left Google, now part of Alphabet Inc., in 2014.

Android has been a phenomenal success for the company, giving Google a way to get its search engine and ads in front of billions of smartphone users. Rubin said he’s not done in mobile. Playground backs existing startups but also builds new companies in-house, he explained. “I do have one actively being hatched in the mobile space,” he added, while declining to name that firm too.

The robot endeavor has been less fruitful. Google has shown little commercial progress to date and the company is selling Boston Dynamics, the most prominent robot company acquired by Rubin while he was at Google.

"I don’t think anything went wrong," Rubin said. "Google is trying to do something really big and meaningful in everyday life. That’s a 10-year plan. I’m relatively impatient."

technews worldnews

May 30, 2017

FEREN OS a polished and well-stocked Linux distro that comes close to being an ideal replacement for Microsoft Windows and mac OS. In fact, this impressive Linux OS is a very attractive replacement for any Linux distro.

The only impediment to this assessment is dislike of the Cinnamon desktop. Feren OS does not give you any other desktop options. However, it comes with a wide assortment of configuration choices that let you tweak the look and feel into almost any customized appearance you could want.

It also is super easy to install. This makes it suitable for those migrating to Linux -- or at least to this operating system. Feren OS offers a specialized software repository that is colorful and efficient to use. It has several specialized launchers to install and configure software packages with a single mouse click.

Feren OS 2017.0 "Murdock" was released earlier this month. This distro is a relatively obscure Linux OS based on Linux Mint's main edition.

Feren is a relative newcomer that first appeared in late 2015. Since then, Feren OS has acquired considerable maturity. It shows very little evidence of being a newcomer. It has its own personality, so you will not feel like you are using a Mint clone.

Even the in-house customization of the Cinnamon desktop environment gives it a considerably different atmosphere than the current Linux Mint Cinnamon iteration.

Out of the Box

Feren OS works right out of the box -- but it is a big box. The download itself is a 3.6-GB ISO file. That is not a larger-than normal size, but installing it takes substantial resources.

For example, you need at least 18.2 GB of hard drive space for the installation. The OS purred along fine on 8 GB of RAM running on a test desktop computer. However, on a test laptop with 4 GB of RAM it ran noticeably slower when I opened numerous applications and did some screen grabs.

So, less-endowed hardware will be a bit of a challenge, especially if you install any of the optional proprietary drivers provided and the third-party software.

All of these goodies are partly responsible for making the Feren OS such an impressive computing platform, though. It is packed with so many bells and whistles that it needs lots of room to run.

The U.S.-based developer's website hints at upcoming plans to package Feren OS in a third-party laptop and eventually to fork the Cinnamon desktop to a Feren-branded design. It is positioned as a transition OS from Windows 10 and includes the WINE compatibility layer for running Windows applications.

The distribution ships with the WPS productivity software along with LibreOffice. It also runs the Vivaldi browser by default -- but you can use the handy Zorein Web Browser Manager tool to easily uninstall the Vivaldi browser and supplement or replace it with several other browsers.

This is very helpful for inexperienced users. It eliminates the need to find applications in the Software Center, the Synaptic Package Manager or manually, using apt-get commands in a terminal.

You have to track down your own Linux games, but PlayOnLinux and Steam are waiting for you in the menu.

I was pleased to see how the developer integrated some of the finer elements of the Zorin Linux distro. In several ways, Feren is more like Zorin Linux than Linux Mint.

Cinnamon Flavoring

Feren OS is not a retread of Zorin, either. Zorin runs the Zorin Desktop 2.0, an in-house integration of the GNOME shell. The look and feel of GNOME 3 is a far cry from the Cinnamon appearance in Feren OS.

If you are not familiar with the Cinnamon desktop, you do not have to worry about much of a learning curve. The Cinnamon desktop is easy to use, especially with all of the customized features the Feren developer added.

Both Feren and Zorin are designed to look like classic Windows. They both resemble many other Linux distributions belonging to the Debian Linux family. Feren OS displays a handful of system icons on the desktop if you want them. It shows a fully functional taskbar or panel on the bottom of the screen.

The left side of the panel is home to the main menu button and four launch icons for the Web browser, the file manager, the Software Center and a launcher to install proprietary icons. The right end of the panel houses the notifications tray and systems tool launchers.

You can add a broad assortment of applets to that task bar. You also can choose from a library of desklets on the desktop to display various readouts, such as weather and system monitors.

The main menu is a change from the typical cascading display used in Windows and many Linux distros. It is a two-column menu display with the categories in the left column. The wider right panel lists installed software titles in rows. Depending on how many software titles are installed, this panel slides out of sight and is replaced by another set of icons with titles as you click the buttons on the bottom of the menu. It is very classy!

Bottom Line

Feren OS is a nearly flawless Linux computing platform. This distro is practically maintenance free. The updating process appears to be a modified rolling release version. System updates push to the Software Center under a separate tab for OS upgrades. This eliminates the hassle of downloading and installing new versions of the operating system several times per year.

The developers have taken the best parts of several innovative Linux distros and seamlessly integrated them into an ideal computing platform. Feren OS is very easy to use. It is attractively designed and has just enough desktop animation to make using it a tad more interesting.

Be sure to try the Theme Changer tool. It lets you alter the appearance of icons, background, window decoration and just about everything else in how Feren OSD looks on the screen.

technews worldnews

May 30, 2017