Crime-fighting robots with access to citizen databases will be patrolling the streets by 2084, according to an academic at the University of Sheffield.

Robotics expert Professor Noel Sharkey predicts that humanoid robots, that are able to arrest people, will have access to integrated databases of information on British citizens, including bank accounts, tax and movements, to enable them to identify who people are.

The “superior knowledge robots” will, according to Sharkey, be able to use their “super strength and inability to feel pain” to arrest criminals.

They will have human features and will be able to detect weapons including guns, knives and explosives, and recognise drunks and aggressive behaviour in large areas.

By 2070, police will also have the aid of autonomous police cars, which will be able to recognise speeding cars, identify license plates and automatically take fines from bank accounts and add points on driving licences.

The project examined the future of the robot in the UK and how it will be developed to aid police. The research was based on recent robotic developments around the world, and on current ideas and trends from robotics experts.

Amazing technology from Japan
but can you guess what it is ?

Look closely and guess what they could be…

Are they pens with cameras?

Any wild guesses? No clue yet?

Ladies and gentlemen… congratulations!
You’ve just looked into the future… yep that’s right!
You’ve just seen something that will replace your PC in the near future.

Here is how it works:

In the revolution of miniature computers, scientists have made great developments with bluetooth technology.. .

This is the forthcoming computers you can carry within your pockets .

This ‘pen sort of instrument’ produces both the monitor as well as the keyboard on any flat surfaces from where you can carry out functions you would normally do on your desktop computer.

Yesterday, there was an electricity flictuation and my computer’s 250gb harddrive stopped working. The boot partition of the harddrive damaged due to short circuit and all data was lost.

I bought a new 500gb (Western Digital - SATA II) harddrive today and then recovered my data from the damaged Harddrive using Easy Recovery software.

Toyota Motor Corp. said Wednesday that it plans to start producing lithium-ion batteries next year as it races against rivals to develop new high-mileage hybrid vehicles.

Toyota, seeking to keep its lead in the growing hybrid market amid rising petrol prices, said its joint venture with Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. will move into full-scale production of lithium-ion batteries in 2010.

The Japanese giant was a pioneer of hybrids, which are equipped with an electric motor and a standard petrol engine to make them more economical.

The firm is poised to overtake General Motors this year as the world’s top automaker but faces renewed competition from other Japanese firms, such as Honda, and overseas rivals in the green automobile race.

Toyota said it would also step up efforts to development a next-generation battery that can outperform lithium-ion batteries.

Automakers have for years been competing to develop lithium-ion batteries suitable for long distance hybrids, but there have been safety concerns after massive recalls of the same type of battery by laptop computer manufacturers.

Nissan Motor Co. said last month it and NEC Corp. will invest 115 million dollars to mass produce new lithium-ion batteries batteries for electric, hybrid and fuel-cell vehicles.

German automaker Volkswagen AG has teamed up with Japan’s Sanyo Electric to develop a lithium-ion battery for next-generation hybrids.

UK operator T-Mobile is disconnecting its CSD-WAP subscribers from July 9th, suggesting customers might like to switch to GPRS or something a little more 21st century, and disposing of pay-per-minute internet access.

Circuit Switched Data (CSD) was how mobile phones accessed data services in the early days, or at least the technology that allowed them to try. Technically equivalent to a dial-up modem, it allows speeds of up to 9.6Kb/s, ideal for downloading the latest news and reviews from the Mobile Internet.

The first WAP phones only had CSD, and it was the 9.6Kb/sec speed that drove the creation of WAP itself: a desperate attempt to create a usable experience over such slow connections. But even the mono graphics and text-menu content was painfully slow to use, and starkly contrasted with TV advertising in the UK, from Genie Internet, promoting the Mobile Internet.

WAP over CSD was a painful experience, but we were promised that once GPRS came along then the mobile web would rock our worlds. When that failed to happen we were told that 3G would be the revolution; with data at 3G speeds we would all want the web in our hands. That too failed to change the world, so HSDPA came along to make it all happen, and now HSUPA, LTE and WiMAX are all vying to be the next contender. Meanwhile Apple quietly proved that speed isn’t everything when it comes to the mobile web

So damning was that original WAP experience that the term is largely verboten in the mobile phone industry, despite the fact that parts of the standard are still in daily use, driving operator portals, delivering content to handsets, and even embedded into Sky’s digiboxes for its “red button” services.

CSD is a connection-based technology, just like making a phone call, so connections were charged by the minute rather than by the quantity of data. The last few T-Mobile customers using CSD are paying £2.50 a month for 30 minutes, or are on one of the Freetime tariffs. They’re all going to have to migrate to GPRS at least if they want to be able to access the internet on the move: they might even find the experience an improvement. ®

AMD Nvidia Cannot Get USB 3.0 Specifications from Intel Corp.
by Anton Shilov

Advanced Micro Devices, Nvidia Corp. and Via Technologies have not yet started development of their own next-generation universal serial bus (USB) controller as they cannot get specifications of the bus from Intel Corp. The latter denies any wrongdoing or intention to affect competitive positions of AMD, Nvidia and others as well as claims that the spec is not finalized.

“The challenge is that Intel is not… giving the specification to anybody that competes with CPUs and chipsets,” a source close to AMD who is familiar with the dispute between chipset developers and Intel is reported to have said by News.com web-site.

While retaining full backward compatibility with USB 1.0 and USB 2.0, devices that feature USB 3.0 will be able to transfer data at up to 10 times higher speed compared to USB 2.0, or at 4.8Gb/s, meaning that a file as large as 600MB could be transferred in just a second in the best case scenario. In addition, the USB 3.0 specification will be optimized for low power and improved protocol efficiency. USB 3.0 ports and cabling will be designed to enable backward compatibility as well as future-proofing for optical capabilities.

In late 2007 the world’s largest x86 chip supplier formed USB 3.0 promoter group, consisting of HP, Intel Corp., Microsoft Corp., NEC Corp., NXP Semiconductors and Texas Instruments. Even though AMD, Nvidia and Via are the world’s largest providers of computer core-logic sets after Intel Corp., they are not a part of USB 3.0 promo group, but are members of USB Implementers Forum.

Sources close to AMD and Nvidia claim that Intel already has working chip with USB 3.0 support, which means that the specification is complete and the chipmaker may handle it to the industry and competitors. In fact, Intel demonstrated USB 3.0 operation at last year’s Intel Developer Forum, though, it has never said that the technology had been finalized by that time.

“Just as with previous generations of USB, Intel is working hard to get the complete spec to the industry with as little delay as possible in order to drive the wide adoption of USB 3.0. Intel only gives it out once it’s finished. It’s not finished. If it was mature enough to release, it would be released. If you have an incomplete spec and give it out to people, these people will build their chipsets and you’ll end up with chipsets that are incompatible with devices. That’s what Intel is trying to avoid,” a source at Intel was quoted as saying.

AMD and Nvidia need to have time to design their controllers according to any specification. Therefore, in case Intel does not provide the USB 3.0 spec soon enough, the companies plan to start to design based on their understanding of the final specification. This may cause incompatibility issues, however, both AMD and Nvidia reportedly do not want to lose competitive advantage of their platforms in the form of USB 3.0.

“We are starting development on it right now. A separate specification – though designed to be compatible with the Intel USB 3.0 spec – has the potential to create incompatibilities. This is not good for users. But we have no choice,” a source close to AMD was quoted as saying.

July 11 the 3G iPhone will reach the snatching hands of the crazed public. The new iPhone supports new features such as 3G wireless (surprise!), GPS mapping, enterprise features like Microsoft Exchange, and the new App Store. Keeping in line with the original iPhone, you get the same major features: widescreen iPod, and desktop-class web browser. It also includes smart sensors that help save battery life by adjusting the backlight based on ambient light.

The 3G iPhone is presented with the lines: “Twice as fast. Half the price.” The price will start at $199.

Click here to see the features of Apple iPhone 3G
 

1. If you are wearing gloves, the iPhone’s virtual keypad won’t work. That’s a concern for wintertime phone calls in cold areas.
2. No memos.
3. No voice dialing.
4. No voice recording.
5. No games.
6. No capacity for video output to a tv (as iPod has).
7. No capacity for over-the-air calendar appointments.
8. No capacity for over-the-air software updates.
9. No IM. Gotta use text messaging.
10. No flash or zoom in the camera.

If you have more reasons .. let us know in comments!

LONDON (Reuters) - A British company has developed a camera that can detect weapons, drugs or explosives hidden under people’s clothes from up to 25 meters away in what could be a breakthrough for the security industry.

The T5000 camera, created by a company called ThruVision, uses what it calls “passive imaging technology” to identify objects by the natural electromagnetic rays — known as Terahertz or T-rays — that they emit.

(more…)

A poll by McAfee revealed that while only 2.1% of respondents have ever encountered a virus on their handset and the vast majority had never heard of anyone getting a mobile phone virus, nearly three-quarters of mobile phone users in developed countries are worried about security on their handsets.

The poll, based on 2,000 people in Britain, the United States and Japan, was released at the Mobile World Congress, one of the mobile phone industry’s biggest trade shows. Network operators are hoping that consumers increasingly use their phones to access the Internet, download applications and make transactions, meaning security and protection are set to become big issues for the industry.

The latest research from McAfee shows that the majority of consumers are concerned about the security of their mobile handsets. The McAfee Mobile Security Report 2008 indicates:

• More than 86 percent of consumers worry about receiving inappropriate or unsolicited content, fraudulent bill increases, or information loss or theft.
• More than 72 percent of users expressed concerns regarding the safety of using emerging mobile services.
• Nearly 14 percent of global mobile users have been directly infected or have known someone who was infected by a mobile virus.