Tech Hub

Terminators or autonomous killing machines / army robots A special envoy of the United Nations calls to put a hold in the development of so-called Terminators a break. These robots can, without human intervention, kill people. That brings a lot of questions on the table, according to the UN envoy. It is unclear which countries are currently engaged in the development of Terminators, but UN envoy Christof Heijn refers in his report to the technology of the United States and Israel and he has visited facilities in Mexico, Syria and Turkey. Terminators are robots that function without being controlled by people and thus independently make the decision to kill certain people or not. Heijn stresses that such lethal autonomous robots do not yet exist in his knowledge. For me it is impossible to predict how close we are to the point where lethal autonomous robots can be deployed. Several have committed to develop them and are currently having multiple development programs as we speak. Milit...

Microsoft has described in a blog post the main innovations of Windows 8.1 . The update is available for free and includes a Start button which was removed in Windows 8. Microsoft confirmed that the Start button returns in Windows 8.1 and now calls it the  Start tip button which links from the desktop mode directly to the home screen. The start button is also available in the home screen and full screen applications. The start screen in Windows 8.1 includes a number of innovations, including more and smaller live tiles. Moreover, the grouping and dragging of tiles has been simplified. Accidentally dragging tiles is now made more difficult since it requires a longer press-down. Within the All Apps view, frequently used apps are displayed at the top and can be searched by name. Applications that use Snap View, that shows two applications side by side, can now open in multiple windows. This can be useful in multi-monitor configurations and on monitors with high resolutions. Also, the...

BlueStacks GamePop gaming console running on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean BlueStacks has announced that it will sell its new gaming console, powered by Android, for $129 later this year, while users are still required to pay a subscription fee of $6.99 per month. The game-console iss already available for pre-orders, but the price of the device, which BlueStacks named GamePop includes controller and 500 Android games. If you order the BlueStacks GamePop online, the console will be delivered for free. However, you must have a subscription plan as follows that if terminated within a year, a $ 25 fee will be charged. BlueStacks is best known for its Android apps Several companies have invested in the start-up. Incidentally, besides BlueStacks also Ouya gets an Android gaming console on the market. Like the GamePop, Ouya is based on Android version 4.2.

This super cool invention lets you isplay images and animations on your bicycle wheels. You can use your own graphics, but there are also a lot of pre-loaded ones to start you off with. The system uses online software that allows you to create a playlist of pictures and animations, your own or choose from the large collection of cool artwork already made available.  Next you send your playlist to the Monkey Light Pro using Bluetooth and you're ready to amaze everyone! Monkey Light Pro is mounted to your bike wheels and once they start moving the graphics show inside the of it on both sides.  It's fully weatherproof, durable and designed for use on city streets.

Google conversational search In the coming days Google is rolling out something new: Conversational Search , an innovative functional addition to Google Search which allows users on all devices (including desktop, tablet and smartphone) to engage in ask and answer sessions with Google Search. This new service is however limited to Google browsers only (read Chrome ). And example of a conversational search would be: "Where can I find a train station in Rotterdam South" upon which Google gives you one or more answers. You could continue by asking "How about a metro station?" and when you receive more then one answer you may want to ask "Which one is most nearby my current location?" etc. etc. In other words, the new service allows you to vocally chat with Goog;e's search engine. Questions and answers are both in spoken language, for now limited to English but that is expected to be widened soon to more languages. And here's fun thing to try... Ask G...

A powerful console, with an enormous amount of storage... not the dedicated game-console we are used to when we hear the name Xbox but rather a complete home entertainment system. For everyone. That's the new road Microsoft is headed to with the new Xbox One . Many recent and new feature will come standard with this Xbox One console such as Kinect, Smart Glass. And its design? Have a look at the picture on your left.

If you witnessed the introduction of the new Xbox, you could be asking the question whether it was the new Xbox itself that got more attention or the synchronized introduction of the next-gen version of Call of duty: Ghosts It has been totally revamped and got itself a new engine as well. We could have expected that with a clear mind ofcourse, because who would invest in a new engine for an Xbox console that's running its last few miles... And besides that, Modern warfare 3 already took everything possible out of the current game engine, so a lot more wasn't even possible anyway. The chances for a Modern Warfar 4 release any time soon are very slim, since the theme has been experiencing a slight fertique among gamers lately, but as for Call of duty...the sentiment is still enormously strong and the market is certainly ready for a new COD game! Call Of Duty: Ghosts! -->

Today, Apple launch of  Inc. Released a press statement announcing the launch of its latest visionary product, the Apple iBall . The artificial, smart bionic eye  would be Apple's answer to the Google Glass technology. The iBall would be surgically be implanted, replacing one of their "organic" eyes. As you already suspected this story is fully made up and not real. But it does make us all think how far the tech-giants of this world would go in their everlasting journey of innovation. What are your thoughts?

Ninetology Stealth 2 As a relative new-comer in the smartphone market, the Malaysian Ninetology  is on the right track to proof itself to be a worthy competitor to the already established brands. After having released the Ninetology Black Pearl, Black Pearl II, Insight, Palette, Stealth and Stealth II it's now the next turn to the Ninetology Stealth 3  to hit the market. Ninetology Stealth 3 specs and features Following are the widely expected specs and features of the upcoming smartphone model Ninetology Stealth III Display / screen: 5" IPS capacitive touchscreen (LCD) Camera: 10.2 megapixel (rear) with proximity and motion sensor CPU: 1.8 GHz quadcore processor OS: Google Android 5.0 Connectivity: 4G networking, WIFI, Bluetooth, USB and possibly NFC Further details follow soon Ninetology Stealth 3 price Current prices for the Stealth and Stealth 2 are respectively $264 and $298. We expect the Stealth 3 to get an introduction price similar to the current Stealth 2 smartphone ...

Oppo Find 6 release date and specs While popular brands such as Apple are steadily loosing market-share to their (cheaper) Chinese opponents, Oppo has announces the release of their new next-gen flag-ship smartphone the Oppo Find 6 Although the Oppo Find 6 price is expected to be well under $600, the specs certainly don't hide behind those produced by the competition such as Samsung Galaxy S5 , Xiaomi Mi-4S , Apple iPhone 6 / iPhone 6s and Nokia Lumia 1020 to name a few. Here are a few highlights outlining the Oppo Find 6 specs and features: Oppo Find 6 CPU / processor: Snapdragon 800, 2.8 GHz quadcore Oppo Find 6 display / screen: 5" full HD 1080p capacitive touchscreen protected by Gorilla Glass Oppo Find 6 camera : 13 megapixel behind + 8 megapixel front camera Oppo Find 6 communication : NFC, 4G, WIFI, Bluetooth and mini-USB 3.0 Oppo Find 6 memory : 2 GB internal memory + 16 GB storage Oppo Find 6 Release date  September 2013

Not everyone can, or wants to spend a lot of money on a smartphone while they still want the best quality as possible. That's where the Nokia Asha 501 comes in. A budget full feature touchscreen smartphone with the top-quality we are haused to from Nokia. The Nokia Asha 501 runs a revamped version of the exclusive Nokia Asha OS . As will cost you as little as US$ 99. In a recent statement, Nokia announces that the Nokia Asha release date is set for June. While Asha only supports 2G networking and WIFI, the price is still very competitive compared to some major competitors' low-cost models. A 3G Nokia Asha is on the way according to Nokia, expected to get a release date around the end of the year. Nokia Asha 501  features design and specs A 3 inch touch-screen, which is quite acceptable in size if the price is taken into account. One button in the bottom section of the Nokia Asha low-cost smartphone. Dimensions of 99,2 * 58 * 12.1mm and a weight of only 98 gram. A camera at the ...

Google Music service to compete with Spotify on Google Play and YouTube Today, Google announces the launch of two separate  music streaming services on their I/O event. One of those will be channeled through Google Play while the other music streaming service is going to be offered through YouTube. With this move, Google will directly become the main competitor of Spotify . Although rumors suggest that the Google Play Music variant will not have any free to listen option. Spotify does allow users to listen for free for a limited amount of hours (supported by audio ads). It is expected that the Google Music service is going to get a monthly usage fee of around US$ 4.00. According to Google, the company has signed deals with the three largest record companies: Universal, Sony and Warner. Furthermore it is learned that the Google Play music service will be available to users as soon as this week.

What we talk about here is Google's search database. Giving a near exact figure on how big Google's search database is, is very difficult to do. It's growing each millisecond and even if we were allowed to monitor it (everything related to the Google Search database is a corporate secret and only a few people know the real details), we would need a real-time counter. Based on the information we -do- know there are some estimates however suggesting that the Google Search database (2013) is around 450 to 550 terabytes. And that's "just" the search part only. Imagine adding to that Drive, Picasa, G-mail, Blogger, Youtube and all the other Google services. I think we would be looking at more then 80 petabytes of Google at the very least!

Last week, Apple finally managed to secure a spot in the Top-10 of Fortune-500's list of most valuable companies . Apple thereby replaced Hewlett Packard which has seen enormous losses, in fact the biggest losses of the entire list. While HP dropped from the 10th place to number 15, Apple made its first ever entry into the top-10 ranking at the 6th spot and is currently the only top-10 tech company present in the Fortune 500 list of most valuable companies. Here's the full top-10: 1 - Wal-Mart - 469 billion dollars in revenue 2 - Exxon Mobile with 449 billion dollars in revenue 3 - Chevron with 233 billion dollars in revenue 4 - Phillips 66 with 169 billion dollars in revenue 5 - Berkshire Hathaway with 162 billion dollars in revenue 6 - Apple Inc. with 156 billion dollars in revenue 7 - General Motors (GM) with 152 billion dollars in revenue 8 - General Electric (GE) with 146 billion dollars in revenue 9 - Valero Energy with 138 billion dollars in revenue 10 - Ford Motor with...

The next few years are very exciting indeed, until we reach the year 2020 a lot of new technology is being introduced and will come to the mass global consumer market, such as the flexible AMOLED TV 's I've talked about in an earlier post, transparent and flexible smartphones , optical technology like Google Glass, 64-bit 16-core mobile processors and a lot more. But what if we look even a little bit further down the future technology horizon? What comes next in technology? Here is a small yet significant selection of my take on these future technological developments ! Communication in the future I personally believe that we are going to see a big shift from devices we hold in our hands or on laps to wearable devices (think for instance about the Apple's iWatch , Google Glass, Sony SmartWatch, et cetera) and then moving on to further development in retinal implant technology allowing us to actually get all of our daily information streams straight and directly onto our ...

Eiedos Hero  mask gives you audiovisual superpowers! Have you ever been in a place so incredibly crowded, and you wonder what those people over at the other side of the room are talking about... Or maybe you would sometimes wish to be able to apply filters and effects to what you see... With this innovative mask it can all be done! The awesome 3D-printed, technologically advanced piece of equipment is called Eiedos Hero  and has been developed by a group of students from the Royal College of Art in London. Hi-tech vision and audio has been put inside to supply you with all the tools you need to perceive the world around you even better and even more awesome. The mask consists of two pieces, the lower part covers the ears, mouth and nose while the upper part goes around the eyes. You may look a bit like Iron Man, but hey, is this cool stuff of what!

Here a neat little easter egg thing, go to Google Search and type: zerg rush hit enter and see what happens... :)

Samsung files for patent of Panoramic camera lens Samsung Galaxy S5 : will this smartphone get a panoramic camera/. In a late March patent submission, Samsung filed for a patent on a panoramic camera lens stating that the particular invention would provide for a panoramic imaging lens that is capable of suppressing stray rays causing flare or ghost phenomenon while improving image quality, and a panoramic imaging system using the panoramic imaging lens. I personally believe Samsung will start using this newly invented panoramic camera lens in their Samsung Galaxy S5  smartphone (Galaxy SV), which has an expected release date in early 2015 (first quarter). It should be noted that meanwhile, world's most high-end smartphone brand  Xiaomi  is also working on a similar panoramic 3D camera lens to be included in its Xiaomi Mi4  smartphone which has an expected release date at the end of 2014. It looks like we will be getting yet another game-changer in the field of sma...

Nokia Lumia 1020 design concept specs, release date, deatures This is what is being rumored in the scene and I'll share it with you. The highly probably specs for the Nokia Lumia 1020 which is set to have a release date around September 2014. Screen: 5" AMOLED display with a resolution of 1080 pixels OS: Microsoft Windows Phone 8.5 Camera backside: PureView 14 megapixel with dual LED flash Camera front: 3.2 megapixel BSI sensor Processor: 2.4 GHz Quadcore Internal memory (RAM): 2 - 4 GB Internal storage: 64 - 128 GB Battery: 7200 mAh Casing: Metal and carbon-fiber Weight: Approximately 140 - 145 grams

With each and every new Samsung Galaxy S installment (and not only limited to the Galaxy S series) of smartphones the rumors about the next big release intensify week by week. The Galaxy S5 / Galaxy SV is coming! And we sure want to know everything about it! Don't we? So let's go on a little journey with me and we'll explore the most probable features, specs, design specifications, capabilities, price and all sorts of other stuff related to Samsung's next big thing, the  Galaxy S5 . Let's go! Related posts ==================== Galaxy S5 to be equipped with fingerprint reader Nokia Lumia 1020 Bionic eye implants What;s the average penis  size per country? Secrets of sexual seduction Sponsored article: Lip care tips & tricks Samsung Galaxy S5 (concept) design features Samsung Galaxy S6 design concept I can't say I have noticed any huge surprises in the way the Galaxy S design has changed over the couple of years, ever since the launch of the first model back ...