Dissapear? Really!

Back in 2006 Harry Potter was all the rage in the engineering world. That year a team at Duke University built the first rudimentary device for hiding objects, akin to the boy wizard’s invisibility cloak. But in technology as in the movies, Harry Potter is now old news. Over the past six years, scientists have moved beyond mere invisibility: If they could build cloaks for light waves, then why not design materials to conceal sound and even ocean waves?

A whole suite of invisibility cloaks are now under development, all building on the same basic principle as the first prototype. When we perceive an object, we are actually detecting the disturbances it creates as energy waves bounce off it. The Duke cloak, constructed from a synthetic structure called a metamaterial, prevented those disturbances by bending light waves around the object, allowing them to continue flowing like water in a stream around a rock (concept shown at right). Sure enough, that technology is not limited to light. In the latest designs it is being applied to mask all kinds of other waves, with the potential for zeroing out sound pollution and protecting cities from earthquakes. Meanwhile, scientists continue to pursue the original invisibility concept—work that is sparking a lot of interest in military surveillance circles.

  VISIBLE-LIGHT CLOAK
The Tech: A group of physicists led by Tolga Ergin and Joachim Fischer at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany built a light-bending fabric last year that—for the first time—rendered a cloaked object invisible to the human eye from any viewing angle.

What It's Made of: A rigid synthetic polymer composed of tiny rods spaced about 350 nanometers (billionths of a meter) apart, a gap small enough to manipulate waves of visible light.

How it Works: As a test, researchers laid the cloak over a flat surface with a small bump in the middle. The cloak bent incoming light rays around the bump and bounced them back as if they had struck a flat surface. Observers would never know the bump existed.

Applications: For now, this cloak can hide only small imperfections on flat surfaces. But eventually, scientists hope to scale it up to conceal much larger objects anywhere in space. The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) started investing in metamaterials way back in 2001, and while it doesn’t like to reveal specific intentions, the agency would certainly be interested in cloaks that conceal soldiers and military equipment.

US Soccer Team gets a new Hope!

Alex Morgan's Special Strike takes US into Finals

The Match which had to decide one team of Olympics Women's soccer between USA and Canada was tied 3-3, extra time was ticking by... Penalty...Strikes... misses...all sorts of thoughts started crossing the minds... Destiny was about to play the most important role in the crucial encounter.... but suddenly a Young, talented player made the difference between the sides... her name was Alex Morgan.

"It takes just one chance, one moment of brilliance for someone to do something special," U.S. co-captain Abby Wambach said, after the match.

That moment came in the 123rd minute of a game packed with more drama than a high school hallway, when Team USA's young star, forward Alex Morgan, out-jumped, out-willed and outlasted the Canada defense and headed in the second goal of her budding Olympic career to give the Americans a 4-3 win. 

It is a moment that will forever be remembered for propelling the U.S. women's national team into its fifth Olympic final.

"I can't remember ever feeling this way," Morgan said, still shaking nearly two hours after the game. "I've never wanted to cry on a field after scoring a goal."

But that's exactly what she did. As she felt the weight of her teammates piling on top of her, the gravity of what she had just accomplished began to sink in, and at the bottom of that pile, "I shed a tear," she said. "We believed from the first minute until the last. Each player individually is better than each player on Canada. But when you come together as a team, you can't break us."

From the first minute, this game was physical, and when it went into extra minutes, it was clear it would be the players who had run that one extra wind sprint, spent one extra hour in the weight room, that would decide the match. "In this game, it was who's fitter, who's stronger, and we showed that in the last couple minutes," Morgan said.

"It was a rugby match out there," said goalkeeper Hope Solo. "You never knew what was going to happen."

US Women team of Misty May-Kerry Walsh to hunt for Hattrick Gold

Misty May-Kerry Walsh in Beach Volleyball Finals

Two time Olympic Champion duo of Misty May-Kerry Walsh will look to add 3rd Olympic Gold in a row. 

"We want to seal the deal that we're the best team that's ever happened," Walsh Jennings said Tuesday night after the Americans advanced to their third consecutive Olympic final with a 22-20, 22-20 victory over China. "Misty has changed my life. I just love her. I want to win tomorrow for us."

Walsh Jennings and May-Treanor won gold medals in Athens and Beijing without ever losing a match -- in their first two Olympics, they never even lost a set -- and they ran their unbeaten streak to 20 in a row with a victory Tuesday.

Already the most-decorated team in the brief history of Olympic beach volleyball, Walsh Jennings and May-Treanor are guaranteed at least a silver medal. No one -- man or woman -- had ever won two beach volleyball gold medals before they became repeat champions in Beijing, and until now no woman had won three Olympic medals of any color.

Deciding the OS to go for

So my previous post was all about what is an operating system and this one deals with which OS to opt for…

I personally have used from low end phones to the latest powerful mean machines…but until now, my favorite has been Android. This might be against a few people’s opinion but this is basically because either they are die-hard fans of others or they are not aware of the Droid’s power. 

Symbian Platform

This one is from, once king of this market, handset manufacturer NOKIA. It has come a long way with minor advancements in all its versions. The ignorance of software’s role in a mobile phone cost NOKIA its throne. I have used its three versions and its basically the simplest one to use when a user is advancing from the low cost handset towards the smartphones. The once elite smartphone software is now available with the mid range handsets too. The new additions to the handsets from the firm do have an advanced version of this operating system- Symbian^3. The applications market has a considerable amount of applications. I would recommend that the new users of smartphones should first try a hand on this and then later upgrade to other. The sad part is NOKIA might discontinue giving updates to this platform in near future.

Windows Phone

Windows name is not new to anybody and this one is the last anchor that has hopes of sinking NOKIA tied to it. The platform is developed by Microsoft and has a completely unique interface as compared to any other operating system. The Mango OS is brilliant to run on any processor ranging from 800 MHz to 1.4Ghz and not many may notice the difference. This platform is virus free, claimed by the manufacturers and many handsets lag when it comes to having an external storage. The major drawback when it comes to sharing multimedia is that it does not support Bluetooth FTP so you will not be able to send or receive files from and to the handset. This majorly comes with most of NOKIA’s handsets while HTC, LG, Dell and Samsung too have a few in their range. Here too, there are considerable applications in the market. The phone is best suited for you if you want to go for looks, powerful usage and a completely different form the rest phone.

Android

Google’s operating system can be found on most of the devices and in almost all ranges. The different variants have always come better off than the previous one. There are millions of applications and the open source nature gives us full freedom to customize the handset as per our ease. The feature loaded OS is just right for a smartphone buff. The system gives us full value for money and you got to love it for its features and lessens the dependency of the user on desktops and laptops. This platform is highly recommended for all to experience once but I personally feel that a straight jump to it causes a bit of initial confusion to the users.

Blackberry

Go for it if you have interest in its messenger. The rest I have found in Android, either built in or through an external application. The once phone for the business class is now with all segments. The major reason being the BBM factor. The OS is simple and easy to use. There are applications in the store. The mail delivery service too is its USP. This is for those who just need a mobile phone with messenger and need emails on the go all the time.

IOS

Apple’s operating system is no doubt, everyone’s dream to use but I find it over priced. Why should one pay for a phone twice the amount when we can have the similar features in Android?  The platform has huge and almost the biggest collection of applications but all the services are priced. The first hurdle is getting an apple id for making account to download applications from the store which requires debit/credit card of the users. Then, almost all the useful applications are charged. This one is for those who need it for a style statement and have cash reserves overflowing :) 

Operating Systems

Android, IOS, Symbian, Mango, Bada and Palm are a few examples of operating systems. I have always seen people who do not have any idea about which operating system to opt for and how it affects their usage, usually end up buying a handset according to the retailer's choice.

For us to decide which one is the best OS(operating system), we need to have a bit of insight of what exactly does an operating system do and hows it significant?

Operating system is a set of programmes which are loaded into the memory and it manages the other programmes in the system. Just as XP, Lion, Vista are to the computers, Android and all the others are for the cell phones. The software capabilities of any handset lies in its OS and even other applications interact with the OS to make use of required functions. Having said that, the operating system is the soul of a mobile phone.

Android is the most happening OS in today's world amongst others and is owned and developed by Google. The operating system is used widely across all brands of phones(except a few rivals) and in all price range. The OS is very much optimised to stay hang proof. There are millions of applications on this platform. While,Mango OS is the recently developed platform from Microsoft. Its gaining popularity steadily and offers a totally new interface.

Operating systems may be multitasking, which means you can do more than one work at a time like we use our PCs. On such platforms, we can perform more than one task like now search web with your favourite songs in the background.

The operating systems are the platforms that decide which application can be run and which not. There exists different readable formats for different platforms. Ease of use, speed, battery life etc too depend on OS to a large extent.

In low end handsets, there are Generic OS that run merely java while do not have much capabilities.

Opting for a an apt OS certainly helps the user in long run.

No YouTube on iPhone 5

Apple and YouTube end their relationship

Apple Inc's new version of its iPhone and iPad software will not include a pre-loaded app for Google Inc's popular video website, YouTube, Apple said on Monday.

images for reference only

It was the latest sign of the growing rivalry between the technology companies the once were closely aligned but now are vying for supremacy in the fast-growing mobile computing market.

Earlier this year, Apple said it would dump Google's mapping software from its mobile devices.


"Apple and Google are the mobile operating systems for the future and this is where the battleground is going to lie," said Needham & Co analyst Kerry Rice.

"If it's going to be a two-horse race, you certainly don't want to give the other horse any kind of lead," he said.

Google, the world's No.1 Web search engine, is also the maker of the most popular smartphone software with its Android operating system

Apple said in a statement on Monday that its license to include the YouTube app in the iOS operating system "has ended."

Apple noted that "customers can use YouTube in the Safari browser and Google is working on a new YouTube app to be on the app store."

courtesy- Reuters

India's 'Rocky' misses out on making history

Vijender crashes out of Olympics after quarterfinal loss

M R Mishra London, Aug 7 (PTI) Star boxer Vijender Singh's dream to become India's first individual athlete with back-to-back Olympic medals came crashing down as he lost his quarterfinal bout against old foe Abbos Atoev of Uzbekistan at the ExCel Arena here. The 26-year-old Beijing Olympics bronze-medallist fought gallantly last night but was found wanting against his strong rival, whom he had blanked 7-0 in the Asian Games final in 2010. Atoev, a former world champion in the 81kg division, got his revenge on the biggest stage as he prevailed 17-13 in the nerve-wracking contest. After M C Mary Kom romped into the semifinals of the women's 51kg category earlier in the day, the spotlight was on Vijender to assure India of at least another bronze medal but that did not materialise as he bowed out of the competitions much to the dismay of millions of Indian supporters. The ExCel arena was packed with flag-waving Indian spectators, who lustily cheered Vijender the moment he stepped into the ring and the decibel level increased after every bout. Vijender, a bronze medal winner in the Beijing Olympic Games four years ago, just could not raise the tempo when it mattered the most as his Uzbek rival intelligently fended off his punches and launched counter-attacks.

Salman-Katrina make a wonderful pair: Shah Rukh Khan

Shahrukh wishes Salman success

Shah Rukh Khan may share a cold vibe with Salman Khan but he finds Dabangg star's pairing with Katrina Kaif "wonderful" in Ek Tha Tiger.

"I don't know about the chemistry. But they make a wonderful pair. They have done films together and I wish them luck," Shahrukh said when asked about the chemistry of Salman and Katrina in their soon-to-be released film Ek Tha Tiger.

This is for fourth time when Salman and Katrina are coming together on silver screen after Maine Pyaar Kyu

Kiya, Partner and Yuvraj.

"It is very nice...they (Salman and Katrina) have done movies together in the past. I think chemistry is a too

deeper word, that was created by media. Even Kajol and I had issues with (the word) chemistry," SRK said

on the sidelines of Tag Heuer event, for which he has been brand ambassador since decade.

"It has taken me years to understand what this chemistry is. When I came back with 20 years of work, you

keep asking me about this chemistry...it is so loosely used," he added.

Zero Dark Thirty Teaser Trailer - Kathryn Bigelow Bin Laden Movie

The Movie on Operation Osama hunt

Use Blackberry on Samsung & Sony Smartphones!

RIM may license BlackBerry 10 to other smartphone manufacturers

The BlackBerry smartphones by Research In Motion (RIM), has been the losing horse in the smartphone race, being defeated by Google’s Android OS by a margin of more than 8 to 1, in terms of sales. According to RIM Chief Executive Thorsten Heins, the company plans to license their upcoming BlackBerry 10 OS to other manufacturers of smartphones such as Samsung and Sony. Heins also said that the company is not in trouble. "If you look at the platform it's still growing, if you look at the devices we've got a single phone that's sold 45 million units," he said.

Heins said in an interview with the Telegraph that BlackBerry doesn’t have the resources to compete with some of the major smartphone manufacturers in terms of the sheer number of handsets produced each year. So the company might need to look at some other business models. "We have to differentiate and have a focused platform," said Heins. "To deliver BB10 we may need to look at licensing it to someone who can do this at a way better cost proposition than I can do it."

The BlackBerry 10 OS is set to offer what Heins refers to as a “true multitasking experience”, that enables users to run a number of systems at the same time. He is confident that the new version of the OS will be a success. “I think a lot of people are going to be surprised,” he said.

The upcoming BlackBerry 10 is highly anticipated. RIM has also released its developer tools for BlackBerry 10. Building a strong library of applications for the new BlackBerry platform is crucial to its success as its existing library of apps is far smaller than rival offerings from Apple and Google. Many of its available apps are incompatible with the upcoming BlackBerry 10. RIM is struggling to reverse years of slowing sales, delayed and disappointing product launches, and an embarrassing global outage of its prized network

Golden Girls of America

Girls who got Gold in London Olympics 2012 for US

Athletics Women's 400m

Sanya Richard Ross

Cycling - Road Women's Individual Time Trial

 

kristin armstrong

Gymnastics - Artistic Women's Individual All-Around 

Gabrielle Douglas

Gymnastics - Artistic Team Event

      

Gold medalist Team US Mckayla Maroney, Kyla Ross, Alexandra Raisman, Gabrielle Douglas and Jordyn Wieber

Judo Women's -78kg

 

 Kayla Harrison

Rowing Women's Eight 

U.S. rowers Mary Whipple, center, Caryn Davies, Caroline Lind, Eleanor Logan, Meghan Musnicki, Taylor Ritzel, Esther Lofgren, Zsuzsanna Francia, and Erin Cafaro

Shooting Women's 50m Rifle 3 Positions

  

Jamie Lynn Gray

Shooting Women's Skeet

Kimberly Rhode

Swimming Women's 200m Freestyle

Allison Schmitt

Women's 800m Freestyle

 

Ledecky Katie

Women's 100m Butterfly

Dana Vollmer

Women's 200m Breaststroke

 

Rebecca Soni

Women's 100m/200m Backstroke

 

Missy Franklin

Tennis Women's Singles

Serena Williams

Shooting at Sikh temple in Wisconsin leaves at least 7 dead

Gunman's tattoos lead officials to deem Sikh shooting terrorism

With Agency inputs- 

A gunman killed six people and critically wounded three at a gurdwara during Sunday services before police shot him dead in an attack that authorities are treating as an act of domestic terrorism.

Witnesses said the gunman opened fire when he entered the kitchen at the gurdwara of Wisconsin in suburban Milwaukee at about 10.30 am CDT (3.30 GMT) as women prepared a Sunday meal, forcing worshippers to flee.

The suspect was a bald, white man, approximately 40 years old, said Thomas Ahern, a spokesman for the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Authorities did not release his identity.

Tattoos on the body of the slain Sikh temple gunman and certain biographical details led the FBI to treat the attack at a Milwaukee-area temple as an act of domestic terrorism, officials said Sunday.

Authorities including the FBI, the ATF, the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Department and Cudahy police are now searching a house in Cudahy, believed to be linked to the suspect.

Four people were found dead inside the temple, Wentlandt said, while three, including the suspected shooter, were found dead outside. Tactical units went through the temple and authorities do not believe a second shooter was involved, Wentlandt said. All people have been cleared out of the temple.