Now, used cigarette butts can charge your “Mobile”

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV0_dH-OakVtKXe38vV7cQsyno7l-N3BjCHAfjrGF2bENxIr3CbTmwfm8P4f-po6mJpvPDfBseyqLxy-VoDOiXfuNe2u_3FYiJaGJDPVzScoaQlVBiKwwE_RctBi9kOBN3es_7P-CbVyQ/s1600/ngmctqwtasagavpzmlkj.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV0_dH-OakVtKXe38vV7cQsyno7l-N3BjCHAfjrGF2bENxIr3CbTmwfm8P4f-po6mJpvPDfBseyqLxy-VoDOiXfuNe2u_3FYiJaGJDPVzScoaQlVBiKwwE_RctBi9kOBN3es_7P-CbVyQ/s1600/ngmctqwtasagavpzmlkj.jpg" /></a></div> <br /> <strong>SOUTH KOREA: Scientist claim that they can convert cigarette filters into a material that could be used by computers, electrical vehicles and wind turbines to store energy.</strong><br /> Sources claim that the discarded cigarette butts are a blight on city streets, but now one group of scientists has come up with a way to reuse them to save the environment. Worldwide, around 5.6 trillion used-cigarettes, or 766,571 tonnes, of used cigarettes are flicked onto pavements each year. That’s equivalent to the weight of 380 London Eyes.<br /> Co-author of the study Professor Jongheop Yi, from Seoul National University, said in a statement that:<br /> “Our study has shown that used-cigarette filters can be transformed into a high-performing carbon-based material using a simple one step process, which simultaneously offers a green solution to meeting the energy demands of society.”<br /> First GM plants to produce omega-3 oil almost ready for harvest: Trial could lead to alternative source of fish oil in the future. Could the moon fuel Earth for 10,000 years? China says mining helium from our satellite may help solve the world’s energy crisis.<br /> The researchers claim the material’s performance is even better that the commercially available carbon, graphene and carbon nanotubes currently used to do the same job.

Now, used cigarette butts can charge your “Mobile”

SOUTH KOREA: Scientist claim that they can convert cigarette filters into a material that could be used by computers, electrical vehicles and wind turbines to store energy. Sources claim that the d…

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'BOYFRIEND TRACKER' APP DOWNLOAD COUNTER RISES IN BRAZIL

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha-O5W0Fndhbgj1KebMnw6-ExKt3lWxNZEFkFAjI8ACdI41Jrcs4IXebR1-cIaOdtDwt9Yr52tQYmKo7tM0r1r-MHqZ2n94uZ-RFpFhPHrJrJfuKXxtQb35HvTrX2PCPe08T9-Mbw_xqw/s1600/0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha-O5W0Fndhbgj1KebMnw6-ExKt3lWxNZEFkFAjI8ACdI41Jrcs4IXebR1-cIaOdtDwt9Yr52tQYmKo7tM0r1r-MHqZ2n94uZ-RFpFhPHrJrJfuKXxtQb35HvTrX2PCPe08T9-Mbw_xqw/s1600/0.jpg" /></a></div> <span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"><br /></span> <span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">Brazilians were outraged when they learned their country was a top target of the U.S. National Security Agency's overseas spying operation, with data from billions of calls and emails swept up in Washington's top secret surveillance program.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">Yet when it comes to the cloak and dagger effort of catching philandering lovers, all high-tech weapons appear to be fair game - at least to the tens of thousands of Brazilians who downloaded "Boyfriend Tracker" to their smartphones before the stealthy software was removed from the Google Play app store last week, apparently in response to complaints about privacy abuses and its potential to be used for extortion or even stalking.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">"Brazilians are a jealous people, what can I say? Of course it's going to be popular," said Marcia Almeida, a 47-year-old woman in Rio whose marriage ended seven years ago in large part because of what she said was her husband's infidelity.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">"It's a different type of spying," she said of comparisons to the NSA surveillance program. "You're checking up on somebody you know intimately, not some stranger."</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">The app, called "Rastreador de Namorados" (Portuguese for Boyfriend Tracker), promises to act like a "private detective in your partner's pocket."</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">Functions include sending the person doing the tracking updates on their partner's location and forwarding duplicates of text message traffic from the targeted phone. There is even a command that allows a user to force the target phone to silently call their own, like a pocket dial, so they can listen in on what the person is saying.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">Similar apps are marketed for smartphone users in other countries, including Europe and the U.S., but Boyfriend Tracker is the first that has made any impact in Brazil, a country still irate as it learns more about Washington's snooping. Brazil has sent a government delegation to meet with U.S. leaders about the spy program that was revealed by Edward Snowden, the former NSA contractor who has been on the run since May and was recently granted asylum in Russia.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">Google spokeswoman Gina Johnson said by email that as a policy the company doesn't comment on why apps are removed.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">Critics say even as advertised, apps like Boyfriend Tracker can violate privacy rights, and they warn that in the wrong hands they could be used for more sinister purposes, like stalking. Some in Brazil argue it breaks an anti-online harassment and hacking law in place since April. The law is named after Brazilian actress Carolina Dieckmann, who had nude photos of herself leaked by hackers in 2012 after she refused to pay about $5,000.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">However, similar apps popular on Google Play market themselves to parents as a means of monitoring how teenage children use the phone and where they are at any given moment.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">Matheus Grijo, a 24-year-old Sao Paulo-based developer behind Boyfriend Tracker, says it has attracted around 50,000 users since its launch about two months ago, most since the site began attracting media attention two weeks ago.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">Grijo insists his lawyer vetted the app and determined it does not violate any Brazilian laws. Despite being removed by Google, it is still available via direct download from his company's website.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">A disclaimer on that website stipulates the app is for "social and recreational use" and absolves the developer of responsibility for any misuse. The first line of the download instructions says a woman installing the tracker on her boyfriend's phone should do so "with his consent."</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">"We are waiting for Google's position on the removal of `Boyfriend Tracker' from Google Play, which we consider an error," read a posting on a Facebook page Grijo set up for the app.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">To install Boyfriend Tracker, suspicious partners have to get their hands on their loved one's smartphones and upload the app. A free version leaves the app's icon visible on the target's phone, while a version that costs $2 a month masks the icon.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">Grijo said the app began as a joke between him and his girlfriend but the idea quickly caught on among their friends.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">"In Brazil, we have this culture of switching partners really quickly, so this is a way of dealing with that," said Grijo. "People really appreciate having a tool to help them find out whether they're being cheated on."</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">He acknowledged that "of course some people are against it, but on balance the response from users has been positive." He said he's received messages of gratitude from around 50 people who used the app to ferret out their partners' infidelity.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">While cheating in Brazil cuts both ways, the app is clearly marketed to women suspicious of their male partners, right down to the name. Postings on the app's Facebook page exhort: "Girls, share this."</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">Still, Grijo insisted he personally has never given his girlfriends any reason to worry.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">"I've had three steady girlfriends until now but I've never had these kinds of issues," he said.</span>

'BOYFRIEND TRACKER' APP DOWNLOAD COUNTER RISES IN BRAZIL

Brazilians were outraged when they learned their country was a top target of the U.S. National Security Agency's overseas spying operation, with data from billions of calls and emails swept up in Was…

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FACEBOOK'S NEW ALGORITHM WILL SURFACE QUALITY CONTENT

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJPgiXvveqCsYAsEw75_sWCSUjdmZjf7SjEqwpw8GzucRO4DTQfVMcE_euO7V4ZvpGLMD8a91SOIZyUTY__S-u79D4ZpiQZwk6u6JjS8lak4UWtioBHhSuuEoHcae5rDqdA80BKCbKvHY/s1600/facebook-beta-update.jpg" width="640" /></div> <span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"><br /></span> <span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">Earlier last week reports had emerged that Facebook replaced its famous EdgeRank system with a better algorithm to surface the most important news on your News Feed. The social networking giant has now confirmed that it has indeed updated its News Feed algorithm to showcase “high quality” content from pages that you’ve liked.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">Facebook has updated its algorithm to be able to bring the right kind of content at the right time to News Feeds of users who will appreciate it. Facebook had been facing some flak for being unable to surface content from pages that were liked by users for a while now. This tweak in its algorithm should solve this issue.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">In a blog post announcing the new algorithm, Facebook's Varun Kacholia wrote, “Our goal is to show the right content to the right people at the right time so they don’t miss the stories that are important to them. As part of that we want to make sure that the best quality content is being produced, surfaced and shared. Our latest update to the News Feed ranking algorithm helps ensure that the organic content people see from Pages they are connected to is the most interesting to them.”</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">Kacholia writes that in order to figure out what high quality content meant, Facebook surveyed thousands of users to understand what they wanted to see. Questions asked to users includes “Is this timely and relevant content”, “Is this content from a source you would trust,” “Would you share it with friends and recommend it to others.” “Is the content genuinely interesting to you or is it trying to game News Feed distribution? (e.g., asking for people to like the content)”.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">Most interestingly, Facebook bunched memes with low quality posts while asking users about high quality posts. The social networking website will be punishing posts by pages that are actually memes since it considers them to be low quality. Facebook will be taking into consideration issues like whether users have hidden posts from the page recently or frequently. This will qualify those posts as low quality ones. Important factors also include how complete the Facebook profile of the page is and whether or not the fan base for a particular page overlaps with other known high quality pages.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">The algorithm is supposed to be quite intuitive and will keep learning to classify high quality posts and pages as and when users keep interacting with them and sending in more feedback. Kacholia writes that this new algorithm had been tested with a small group of audiences first and it worked well as it not only drove up the interaction on these pages but also saw users hiding lesser stories throughout.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">For pages that are seeing good engagement already, this new algorithm will assure that your content is seen by people who matter and more fans of your pages as the quality of your posts improve. Thanks to better insights rolled out by Facebook recently. Page admins should be able to figure out the kind of posts that drive up engagement as well as targeting and timing. Looks like Facebook has finally got its act together as far as content is concerned</span>

FACEBOOK'S NEW ALGORITHM WILL SURFACE QUALITY CONTENT

Earlier last week reports had emerged that Facebook replaced its famous EdgeRank system with a better algorithm to surface the most important news on your News Feed. The social networking giant has n…

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Robot furniture that builds itself

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaiU433n4Hd8tMalBHUtUo3HyFbN79gCOOW2xZk5UCNTxRBotMGTbsrTxTtHp-CYUf2aSV-BiUE_sm4-8nOe5Uke_78A8nyH89gMXd18pgyIhTK-wIlbkm_CA1LOB9KP9pS7TNtUV3fYg/s1600/140722135742-roombot-chair-horizontal-gallery.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3bIfFeFeaUreUroCRNKyzp0OMg7OTUuP4s2hO6NI_eK1DDAMfIyDWNXjHz46PqAX28RsRhMLxGH5Kp5UR7U7_hSgGvNVWfDbA9ZQJJicJA0DO2JM0O1m0DrBwUz_abSboX7d8zL-e7oA/s1600/140722140043-roombot-table-horizontal-gallery.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3bIfFeFeaUreUroCRNKyzp0OMg7OTUuP4s2hO6NI_eK1DDAMfIyDWNXjHz46PqAX28RsRhMLxGH5Kp5UR7U7_hSgGvNVWfDbA9ZQJJicJA0DO2JM0O1m0DrBwUz_abSboX7d8zL-e7oA/s1600/140722140043-roombot-table-horizontal-gallery.jpg" /></a></div> <div class="cnnEditorialNote"> <em>Edge of Discovery highlights awe-inspiring innovations and ideas.</em></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaiU433n4Hd8tMalBHUtUo3HyFbN79gCOOW2xZk5UCNTxRBotMGTbsrTxTtHp-CYUf2aSV-BiUE_sm4-8nOe5Uke_78A8nyH89gMXd18pgyIhTK-wIlbkm_CA1LOB9KP9pS7TNtUV3fYg/s1600/140722135742-roombot-chair-horizontal-gallery.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaiU433n4Hd8tMalBHUtUo3HyFbN79gCOOW2xZk5UCNTxRBotMGTbsrTxTtHp-CYUf2aSV-BiUE_sm4-8nOe5Uke_78A8nyH89gMXd18pgyIhTK-wIlbkm_CA1LOB9KP9pS7TNtUV3fYg/s1600/140722135742-roombot-chair-horizontal-gallery.jpg" width="400" /></a></div> <strong>(CNN)</strong> -- Imagine that the chair you're sitting on became a sofa on demand as the day moved from light to dark. Or if all your furnishings could move out of your way as you walk through a room. These thoughts could one day become reality through research being conducted at the <a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" target="_blank">Swiss Federal Institute of Technolog</a>y (EPFL).<br /> <div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph2"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSlCwsohC4MNucbnS4JmkD1IKHkOclYtNgHHmdshLCn64O0cZTbt754bRJAWfveB-jYFacEzMO3IF2LlFwb__a2-SCJIaChSzP0g7x0abEs7QsJVzAEaQYedd6M337Qkav3kPpujqtw70/s1600/140722151641-roombot-connected-table-horizontal-gallery.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSlCwsohC4MNucbnS4JmkD1IKHkOclYtNgHHmdshLCn64O0cZTbt754bRJAWfveB-jYFacEzMO3IF2LlFwb__a2-SCJIaChSzP0g7x0abEs7QsJVzAEaQYedd6M337Qkav3kPpujqtw70/s1600/140722151641-roombot-connected-table-horizontal-gallery.jpg" width="320" /></a>The EPFL biorobotics lab is developing self-configurable robotics known as "Roombots," which can merge with materials and furnishings to create adaptable furniture for the home and office.</div> <div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph3"> "It's a bit of a science-fiction project in my lab to create intelligent furniture which can change shape and functionality," explains lab director Auke Ijspeert. "We envisage the Roombots moving and combining to create a diversity of elements including tables and chairs." The goal is to create furniture that can be re-used in multiple ways.</div> <div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph4"> Read this: Electronic noses sniff out cancer</div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfAYIBh4TjacEbgUdTMMpNmdbl0mqiJNLp7PIn_zv-FFFsUQ0FlSvp1pcwKpxvwXWonX9A4oLWwqW7Jc_R1Xqg9lATX9UWjW79Muy1anU1HqiDlP66zbGKn-1XsF4EHKGg5DWxuXJHF8k/s1600/140722152108-roombot-rendering-horizontal-gallery.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfAYIBh4TjacEbgUdTMMpNmdbl0mqiJNLp7PIn_zv-FFFsUQ0FlSvp1pcwKpxvwXWonX9A4oLWwqW7Jc_R1Xqg9lATX9UWjW79Muy1anU1HqiDlP66zbGKn-1XsF4EHKGg5DWxuXJHF8k/s1600/140722152108-roombot-rendering-horizontal-gallery.jpg" width="320" /></a></div> <div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph5"> Designs would consist of Roombot modules -- which resemble two dice stuck together, and contain a battery, three motors for movements and pivoting, and a wireless connection. Each module is just 22cm long and the team imagine just 10 of them could combine to build a broad range of furniture. "The Roombots would be coupled with more passive materials such as a table top or cushion to create the end results," says Ijspeert.</div> <div class="cnn_strylftcntnt"> <div class="cnn_strylctcntr cnn_strylctcquote"> <div class="cnn_strylctcqcntr"> <div> It's a bit of a science-fiction project in my lab to create intelligent furniture which can change shape and functionality<br /><span>Auke Ijspeert, EPFL</span></div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph6"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhumvqfqJKAjw_WsAffp2XeayMad-AJgLnaPaaRZKoq6clLP8YHUnQ3blGBtNY5N0hIadRxr7btouZt_uKtCO2H0WiyhLofp_2_hczn9I2p888pmlLfyLZwy0O2tKlkvedQCI2fSmk0lZY/s1600/140722151147-roombot-coming-out-horizontal-gallery.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhumvqfqJKAjw_WsAffp2XeayMad-AJgLnaPaaRZKoq6clLP8YHUnQ3blGBtNY5N0hIadRxr7btouZt_uKtCO2H0WiyhLofp_2_hczn9I2p888pmlLfyLZwy0O2tKlkvedQCI2fSmk0lZY/s1600/140722151147-roombot-coming-out-horizontal-gallery.jpg" width="400" /></a>However, the team's immediate goals are to create mobile furniture to assist the elderly and those with reduced mobility. "Let's say an elderly person is using a walker, the furniture could have modules attached for it to move out of the way in a cluttered apartment or have a stool follow the person and remain close by," describes Ijspeert.</div> <div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph7"> For now, the team have managed to enable a few modules to interact, coordinated by algorithms on a PC, but they plan to improve human-robot interactions by either embedding cameras to track where users are or using voice recognition for people to instruct their furniture.</div> <div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph8"> Further hopes lie in using tablets to display a room virtually, with people using augmented reality to then move and place furnishings as they desire. "Eventually we want less and less human interaction to have a more fluid transition of furniture," says Ijspeert.</div> <div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph9"> Designs aren't limited to the home and could be applied to the workplace to create high-end conference rooms that reconfigure according to functionality, and eventually anywhere, with people creating their own uses for the building blocks.</div> <div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph10"> "What I really hope is to provide Lego blocks for people to find their own use such as artists or designers," says Ijspeert.</div> <!-- Blogger automated replacement: "https://images-blogger-opensocial.googleusercontent.com/gadgets/proxy?url=http%3A%2F%2F2.bp.blogspot.com%2F-IbFgDqTlvH8%2FU9FTZfRfqWI%2FAAAAAAAAArE%2FIvgzyQ-1mME%2Fs1600%2F140722135742-roombot-chair-horizontal-gallery.jpg&container=blogger&gadget=a&rewriteMime=image%2F*" with "https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaiU433n4Hd8tMalBHUtUo3HyFbN79gCOOW2xZk5UCNTxRBotMGTbsrTxTtHp-CYUf2aSV-BiUE_sm4-8nOe5Uke_78A8nyH89gMXd18pgyIhTK-wIlbkm_CA1LOB9KP9pS7TNtUV3fYg/s1600/140722135742-roombot-chair-horizontal-gallery.jpg" --><!-- Blogger automated replacement: "https://images-blogger-opensocial.googleusercontent.com/gadgets/proxy?url=http%3A%2F%2F1.bp.blogspot.com%2F-rTPpPnInUbM%2FU9FTajTHBhI%2FAAAAAAAAArY%2F8QTkGpI5KTA%2Fs1600%2F140722151641-roombot-connected-table-horizontal-gallery.jpg&container=blogger&gadget=a&rewriteMime=image%2F*" with "https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSlCwsohC4MNucbnS4JmkD1IKHkOclYtNgHHmdshLCn64O0cZTbt754bRJAWfveB-jYFacEzMO3IF2LlFwb__a2-SCJIaChSzP0g7x0abEs7QsJVzAEaQYedd6M337Qkav3kPpujqtw70/s1600/140722151641-roombot-connected-table-horizontal-gallery.jpg" -->

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Robot furniture that builds itself

Edge of Discovery highlights awe-inspiring innovations and ideas. (CNN) -- Imagine that the chair you're sitting on became a sofa on demand as the day moved from light to dark. Or if all your furni…

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The future of urban transit?

<div class="byline"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz96d_GCKOVMOfoRdTDsXk_UfYW8jwhH4GBdw_7uDm6tQgU91tJ3Rn6tZaFs2uhglS583f_GtTfM-Z9ZjJDiXfvuhSIQw4OGKCfT6e4IGGP0D0r8S_WSXcXB1ElGBYwvXGmz4LAj4zRzA/s1600/140722124452-cnn-10-design-transit-pods-story-top.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz96d_GCKOVMOfoRdTDsXk_UfYW8jwhH4GBdw_7uDm6tQgU91tJ3Rn6tZaFs2uhglS583f_GtTfM-Z9ZjJDiXfvuhSIQw4OGKCfT6e4IGGP0D0r8S_WSXcXB1ElGBYwvXGmz4LAj4zRzA/s1600/140722124452-cnn-10-design-transit-pods-story-top.jpg" /></a>By <span>Brandon Griggs</span>, CNN</div> Say you step off a train in a new city and need to get to your hotel, about a mile away. Most taxi drivers don’t want to take people such a short distance. But with your luggage, it’s too far to walk.<br /> Someday, there may be a third option: Urban transit systems built around small electric vehicles, or pods, that drive themselves. <br /> Supporters of these driverless pods say they take up less space than cars, cut down on urban noise and produce zero emissions. And they offer more flexibility: Instead of relying on a set schedule, riders can summon these pods for private, individual trips.<br /> Since 2011, a fleet of such pods has been transporting passengers between terminals at London’s Heathrow Airport, eliminating more than 50,000 bus trips a year on crowded nearby roads. The Heathrow system runs mostly on elevated tracks.<br /> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNjwT__jjtbzmEpsD375Gpv97u3Uh4zluNgvcd7ouNXku230xAb_8DoP5oiEoZw8LwcR5i6ViiXZRN2sLUghU-n4IUvNueMnm3Nf0QPHTMRrMCRxIkDGqmQNLBYdPwe11YUolSEuDnLQ0/s1600/140721181918-10-cnn10-design-transportation-story-top.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNjwT__jjtbzmEpsD375Gpv97u3Uh4zluNgvcd7ouNXku230xAb_8DoP5oiEoZw8LwcR5i6ViiXZRN2sLUghU-n4IUvNueMnm3Nf0QPHTMRrMCRxIkDGqmQNLBYdPwe11YUolSEuDnLQ0/s1600/140721181918-10-cnn10-design-transportation-story-top.jpeg" /></a>Now, Milton Keynes, a small city 45 miles northwest of London, wants to be the first in the world to put a network of pods on pedestrian walkways. The vehicles would connect the city’s train station with its downtown shopping district a mile away. <br /> Riders can reserve pods using their smartphones. Or they will find a fleet of pods waiting for them outside the railway station or other popular spots, said Geoff Snelson, director of strategy for Milton Keynes Council. <br /> Early designs show a small, stubby vehicle with two seats and a large, plunging windshield. Anticipating unease with driverless vehicles, the project’s backers want the pods to look sleek, modern and unthreatening. <br /> “We want people to be curious about using them,” Snelson said.<br /> British engineering firm RDM Group is working on three prototype pods fitted with autonomous-driving systems from Oxford University’s Mobile Robotics Group. To start, they’ll have a steering wheel, an accelerator, a brake and a human driver, although future models are expected to be fully autonomous. <br /> Packed with cameras and sensors, the pods will know when to turn and brake to avoid collisions with pedestrians, cyclists or teens on skateboards.<br /> “The focus has to be on safety,” said Neil Fulton with Transport Systems Catapult, a British public transit advocacy group.<br /> The city plans to begin testing the two-seater pods in the spring, with the hope of gradually integrating larger models into its transit system by the end of 2015. Other municipalities worldwide are watching Milton Keynes’ plans with an eye on adopting similar systems. But first, laws must be drawn up to allow driverless cars on roads in the UK.<br /> “There’s huge interest in this,” said Fulton. “We’re trying a completely new mode of transport.”<br /> <br /> <br /> <br />

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The future of urban transit?

By Brandon Griggs, CNN Say you step off a train in a new city and need to get to your hotel, about a mile away. Most taxi drivers don’t want to take people such a short distance. But with your lugg…

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Indian doctors remove 232 teeth from teen’s mouth

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM5t3qzM1IUTvJlCZaj_bE08jD_Kl2tEd3llWlYFk6KQDHL-jOC7dX1WdcKj3koRNcIm6zGKdqiGzdE-lA732EbFvV7SzP8UScV1G29dNoVH5UivPllr5j3ks5SAUKKOM-8HX54RQv7rM/s1600/teeth.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM5t3qzM1IUTvJlCZaj_bE08jD_Kl2tEd3llWlYFk6KQDHL-jOC7dX1WdcKj3koRNcIm6zGKdqiGzdE-lA732EbFvV7SzP8UScV1G29dNoVH5UivPllr5j3ks5SAUKKOM-8HX54RQv7rM/s1600/teeth.jpg" /></a></div> <br />  <strong> </strong><br /> <strong>INDIA: Doctors extracted 232 teeth from the mouth of 17-year-old boy.</strong><br /> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkZ7cL1jFQHG8OXcxsdqk9pbSn-Ryuebz5-JpiItlipLl3GVNTV912lCyNpdNUel4g-BbBvLDMvdqVOSOFmzpg6tfE2hANWawP9ObCW8P4fNJsfMb8VyYSb9hTcnI_TkSTIofQwslF294/s1600/22JULY14-BL-SONI-011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkZ7cL1jFQHG8OXcxsdqk9pbSn-Ryuebz5-JpiItlipLl3GVNTV912lCyNpdNUel4g-BbBvLDMvdqVOSOFmzpg6tfE2hANWawP9ObCW8P4fNJsfMb8VyYSb9hTcnI_TkSTIofQwslF294/s1600/22JULY14-BL-SONI-011.jpg" width="320" /></a>According to the media reports, the operation continued for more than seven hours. It is reported that the teenager had been suffering for 18 months and traveled to the city from his village after local doctors failed to identify the cause of the problem.<br /> Ashik Gavai was brought in with a swelling in his right jaw, Dr Sunanda Dhiware, head of Mumbai’s JJ Hospital’s dental department. Doctors have described his condition as “very rare” and “a world record”. Dr Dhiware said in a statement that:<br /> “Ashik’s malaise was diagnosed as a complex composite odontoma where a single gum forms lots of teeth. It’s a sort of benign tumour.”<br /> She further added that:<br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge3fFvl8UBLpwwPmRHmigo1Lehe-L0kXwQDF1IyXMRRnJvnezf47m1qr4KgJzQvlbscGWB-aFe4fiGsobEshMSVhliHxQYvMnbbudbci9_BaYqyZAgK0040a3TZAv28cZFUKL1Hwc3_yE/s1600/22JULY14-BL-SONI-021.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge3fFvl8UBLpwwPmRHmigo1Lehe-L0kXwQDF1IyXMRRnJvnezf47m1qr4KgJzQvlbscGWB-aFe4fiGsobEshMSVhliHxQYvMnbbudbci9_BaYqyZAgK0040a3TZAv28cZFUKL1Hwc3_yE/s1600/22JULY14-BL-SONI-021.jpg" width="320" /></a></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJFvuWPE_-OAgmiFewS8wgDTD41R8YzH0kyUcGaMaIFi5EPAdTd8TXxjEmxHTu40JLGygE4YoRKa4R_y0TQu1k1yompr0qarMy9yJ9VYICCbkrZhcXEWhGGeHc8ApkdEhwUp1NX3cPcRU/s1600/0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJFvuWPE_-OAgmiFewS8wgDTD41R8YzH0kyUcGaMaIFi5EPAdTd8TXxjEmxHTu40JLGygE4YoRKa4R_y0TQu1k1yompr0qarMy9yJ9VYICCbkrZhcXEWhGGeHc8ApkdEhwUp1NX3cPcRU/s1600/0.jpg" width="320" /></a></div> “At first, we couldn’t cut it out so we had to use the basic chisel and hammer to take it out. Once we opened it, little pearl-like teeth started coming out, one-by-one. Initially, we were collecting them, they were really like small white pearls. But then we started to get tired. We counted 232 teeth.”<br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKdifNJxjJhpmgnRDcyY5p-Jm-o6P0s2VopN6ftIeiHXu3rOxxfXC1afILFrct4o5stfS3Zk3PmjNefjG7zhTe0Nm3L0MhiUBYsJJRTmZnZgGjZDBqzoUdx27NDuocAPkMhOjPlmbijxk/s1600/Part-DEL-Del6337946-1-1-0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKdifNJxjJhpmgnRDcyY5p-Jm-o6P0s2VopN6ftIeiHXu3rOxxfXC1afILFrct4o5stfS3Zk3PmjNefjG7zhTe0Nm3L0MhiUBYsJJRTmZnZgGjZDBqzoUdx27NDuocAPkMhOjPlmbijxk/s1600/Part-DEL-Del6337946-1-1-0.jpg" width="320" /></a></div> The surgery involved two surgeons and two assistants. Ashik now has 28 teeth. Take a look at these pictures:

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Indian doctors remove 232 teeth from teen’s mouth

  INDIA: Doctors extracted 232 teeth from the mouth of 17-year-old boy. According to the media reports, the operation continued for more than seven hours. It is reported that the teenager had been …

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