A beer glass to end smartphone addiction

Few things are more annoying than smartphone-addicted friends. You're just trying to get a beer and they're obsessively checking their phones, reading tweets, and updating you on Facebook happenings.

Sure, you can ask them to put it away. They might listen, for a few minutes, before the phone inevitably makes its way back to the table, and their eyes once again start trolling the screen.

Good full-HD video in ultrasmall package

The Good The Dimika Action Cam is an ultrasmall video camera that weighs just 1.3 ounces and costs less than $70. It's easy to operate and considering its size and cost, the video is pretty good.
The Bad The software required to change settings is Windows-only; the Micro-USB port and microSDHC card slot are unprotected; the battery cannot be removed or replaced.
The Bottom Line A tiny, point-and-shoot, full-HD video camera that's simple and fun to use, the Dimika Action Cam is a very good inexpensive option for situations in which you don't want to risk your more-expensive camera or smartphShow anyone the little black box that is the Dimika Action Cam and that person's first words are likely to be, "That's a camera?"

The entire thing is smaller than a pack of Tic Tacs and measures just 2.5 inches deep by 1.5 inches wide by 0.6-inch high (64x38x16mm) and weighs 1.3 ounces (38g). At that size and weight, you can attach it to a lot of things, including quadcopters, or to a windshield without blocking your view. And if you put it on a helmet, you'd barely notice a difference.

On the left side are a Micro-USB port for charging, a microSDHC card slot supporting cards of up to 32GB, and a pinhole for resetting the camera should it lock up on you (which only happened to me once while testing, and really, that's not unusual for these little cameras).

The only controls are power and record buttons on top, so as you might imagine the Dimika is easy enough to use. Turn it on and a minuscule LED on top lights up: green for video mode 1, blue for video mode 2, and red for photo and time-lapse photo modes. Giving the power button a quick press once the camera is on changes the modes. The LED, by the way, is very difficult to see in bright sun.one.

will tech kill of the exam

Major exams are the bane of many a student’s life. They represent a one-off chance to scribble months or years of learning onto paper, and can make or break future career prospects. The trouble is that taking an exam at a time rigidly set by the academic calendar has never been an ideal way to determine competence – they may come at the right time for some lucky students, but not for many others.

Perhaps it doesn’t have to be that way. As teaching begins to move online, we no longer need to wait until the end of a course to perform assessments. Instead, computer software can assess understanding during the learning process itself by analysing a student’s every mouse click and keystroke. So could we finally be able to get rid of the dreaded final exam?

A better option is a system that allows students to advance at their own pace, as and when they have mastered the material, says Julia Freeland an education researcher at the Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation in San Mateo, California. This is called competency-based learning, and it requires tailoring the educational programme in a different way for each student. This is clearly something that teachers in a busy classroom may struggle to do. If course material is offered online, though, with the student’s input analysed automatically by computer software, students can be assessed individually – even to the point that the software can identify when a given student is likely to perform to their full potential on an exam.

samsung S5 in India

 Samsung is going  to announce the launch of its flagship smartphone, Galaxy S5, in India on March 27. The South Korean electronics giant has started sending invites for the event to the media.

The company is expected to announce the price of Galaxy S5 at the event. The smartphone will be available starting April 11, coinciding with the day it becomes available, globally in 150 countries.

It is not clear if Samsung will also announce the pricing and availability details for its Gear 2, Gear 2 Neo and Gear Fit smartwatches at the same event. The smart devices were launched along with Galaxy S5 during an event in Barcelona on the sidelines of the Mobile World Congress.

Samsung Galaxy S5 sports a slightly larger 5.1-inch Super AMOLED (1080 X 1920p) display which looks similar to that of the Galaxy S4. Powered by a 2.5GHz quad-core processor and 2GB RAM, the Galaxy S5 comes in 16GB and 32GB internal storage variants, expandable up to 64GB through microSD card.

The phone is dust and water-resistant (IP67 certified), sports and offers fitness-related features, including a pedometer, diet and exercise records, and a new, built-in heart rate monitor. Another highlight of the phone is a new iPhone-like fingerprint sensor integrated with the phone's home button. The finger scanner will offer a biometric screen-locking feature and mobile payment experience to consumers.

Galaxy S5 sports a 16MP rear camera and a 2.1MP front-facing camera. The rear camera is capable of capturing 4K video at 30 frames per second. Samsung claimed the Galaxy S5 offers the world's fastest auto-focus speed up to 0.3 seconds.

The smartphone runs Android 4.4.2 KitKat, the latest version of Google's mobile operating system. The back panel of the phone sports a dimpled soft-touch cover, similar to the Nexus 7(2012) tablet.

In terms of connectivity options, Galaxy S5 offers Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n and ac, Bluetooth 4.0, USB 3.0, NFC and InfraRed. The phone supports a large number of 4G LTE frequency bands with LTE Category 4 standard. It comes with accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometer, RGB ambient light, Gesture (IR), and heart rate sensors.

The phone packs in 2800mAh battery with a claimed standby time of 390 hours and talk time of 21 hours. It is available in four different colours: charcoal black, shimmery white, electric blue and copper gold.

Twitters hottest stuff in Nuzzel

 Twitter is a great medium to stay connected with the world. It is even better if you are really interested in news and want to constantly remain abreast of everything that happens around the globe.

But keeping an eye on the Twitter feed is not possible for everyone, particularly if you follow too many Twitter handles. That entails missing out on a number of stories that you would have liked to read.

Googles vision for Android Ware

Apps written for Android Wear will provide notifications from a variety of applications, ranging from social to chat to shopping, news and photography.

Users will be able to ask questions or launch apps, as well as access and control other devices, using the familiar "OK, Google" voice command.

Many apps already are compatible with Android Wear because it works with Android's notification system, Google said.

Google partners for Android Wear-powered watches set to debut later this year include consumer electronics manufacturers Motorola, Asus, HTC, LG and Samsung; chip makers Broadcom, Qualcomm, Mediatek, Intel and Imagination; and fashion brands including the Fossil Group.

"They're promising a product this summer, but these things have a tendency to drag on," remarked Howe. "We don't have a product yet -- we have slides."

What Devs Get

The developer preview lets devs run the Android Wear platform in the Android emulator; connect an Android device to the emulator and view notifications from it as cards on Android Wear; and try new APIs in the preview support library.

Devs must install the Android SDK before signing up for the preview. They have to sign up with a Gmail or other Google account to download the preview support library and get access to the preview beta app in the Google Play store.

Devs using the ADT plugin for Eclipse must upgrade to version 22.6.1 or higher.

Their version of Android SDK Tools must be 22.6 or higher.

Devs should keep the "Hardware Keyboard present" feature selected in the Android Wear emulator so they can provide text input on screens.

The Android Wear Preview app is compatible with Android 4.3 or higher.

FB bends the Presidents ear

CEO Mark Zuckerberg posted on Facebook that he called President Obama to complain about NSA surveillance.

"The Internet is our shared space," he wrote. Most people and companies "work together to create this secure environment and make our shared space even better for the world. When our engineers work tirelessly to improve security, we imagine we're protecting against criminals, not our own government."

The U.S. government should be the champion for the Internet, not a threat, Zuckerberg continued, calling for transparency about what the government is doing "or otherwise people will believe the worst."

He called the president "to express my frustration over the damage the government is creating for all of our future," Zuckerberg wrote. "It's up to us -- all of us -- to build the Internet we want."

Zuckerberg's statements sparked mixed responses.

Google Play Store v4.6.16 update brings batch install

Android Play Store update is rolling, brings batch Install, UI changes
Google has rolled out a major update to its Play Store app on Android. The update version 4.6.16 features a slew of new features coupled with some minor UI changes.

One of the important features that the new update brings is the ability to batch install apps from your app history. The new feature is going to be of great use when using a new device and installing all apps on it. To use the batch install, users need to go to All tab in My Apps section and select apps to begin marking apps to be batch installed. Moreover, users are no longer directed to the top of the list after removing an app from the list.

Another update focusses on the password management. Play Store asks for password when downloading a paid content. Previously, users could either set it to ask every time or never. With the new update, users can set timer for 30 minute, which means Google won’t ask for password for the next 30 minutes after having purchased an app once. It is very similar to Apple’s App Store.

The Settings and Help buttons have been placed in the side bar, and overflow menu has been removed. Confusing Auto add widget settings have been replaced. IAPs now feature in the App permissions screen. Google+ count is now exact rather the nearest approximate value.