Teachers and Technology

Why do we still keep on debating a way of world? Why do we need to think so much on embracing a necessary change? And when we do need to get on to a change, we all know, Sooner the Better. So where else to start on the bandwagon than classrooms! With responsibility to guide young children and enabling them, it becomes all the more imperative that teachers embrace technology and bring them to classroom. Education is all about learning and enabling to be able to make best use of what is available today and improve upon it or find new knowledge for a better tomorrow. So better knowledge management, better access to information, innovative means to seeing things work in simulated environments, access to all sort of books on kindle, continuous access to search engines on your cell phones, all need to be absorbed into our day.

Imagine how fast and efficient our research gets when we do not need to wait for weeks to get that elusive research paper from a distant library. Think how fast our experiments become when computers can perform hundred million iterations for analyzing and fitting an equation on your data. But we can use all this if we are on top of technology not grappling with it. Or just think how effective teaching becomes when we are able to use 3-D teaching aids, models, presentations in class. We can just bring in a Harvard Professor right into any classroom with his ideas and style. We can just have any of the best statesmen in world right amongst our students. Or we can see how Newton could not see Apple Flying upwards or what trajectory a missile will take right in classroom and not use up any funds on physical models.

Opportunities are vast, potential is huge but then responsibility is enormous. We cannot teach what we ourselves struggle with. So it is very important for teachers to be tech savvy, IT Savvy, Computer Savvy. Call it by any name but it is just saying, “Teachers, you need to be updated with times!”

New Software To Stop Viruses Before They Strike

Virus is one of the biggest problems in the area of computer operations. When a new virus hits the Internet, there is little that an anti-virus software can do to stop the malware on that very day. Now, a team of British engineers has come up with a solution to that pestering problem.
A defence technology company, based in Worcestershire, has invented a way to stop viruses in their tracks by intercepting every file that could possibly hide a virus and adding a string of computer codes to it that will disable any virus it contains. The new technique mainly targets e-mailed attachments and adds the extra code to them as they pass through a mail server. A key feature of the scheme is that no knowledge of the virus itself is needed. Hence, it can successfully deal with new, unrecognized viruses as well as older and known ones.
Virus writers disguise harmful files as innocuous documents to fool unsuspecting users into unknowingly converting them into executable program files. The scientists aim to prevent this by inserting a line of machine codes-the raw code that the microprocessor chips understand -into the header area of incoming files. This is the part of the file that holds the formatting data that defines such aspects as a document's layout and fonts. If the file is simply opened by another programme, the code is ignored. But if someone attempts to run it as an independent programme, the new code will run first and stop the rest of the programme in its tracks, either by exiting or by sending it into an infinite loop.

Paper Batteries to Power Laptops, Drive Cars

Scientists at the Standford University, USA, have reported that they have successfully turned a specific type of paper(coated with ink made of silver and carbon nanomaterials) into a "paper battery". This recent development holds a new kind of lightweight, high-performance energy storage.
There is a specific feature which helps ink stick to the surface of a paper. The same feature also allows it to hold on to the single-walled carbon nanotubes and silver nanowire films. Earlier research had found that silicon nanowires could be used to make batteries 10 times as powerful as lithium-ion batteries, which are currently used to power devices such as laptops.'
Taking advantage of the mature paper technology, low-cost and high-performance energy storage are realised by using conductive paper as current collectors and electrodes. This type of battery could be useful in powering electric or hybrid vehicles. It may be mentioned here that battery weight and life have been an obstacle to commercial viability of electric-powered cars and trucks.

Roxxxy, the new Robot

Las Vegas: Billed as a world first, Roxxxy the sex robot made her debut at the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas.

Inventor - Douglas Hines, Artificial Intelligence Engineer at Bell Labs

The life-size robot has artificial intelligence and flesh-like synthetic skin. "She's a companion. She has a personality. She hears you. She listens to you. She speaks. She feels your touch. She goes to sleep. We are trying to replicate a personality of a person." Roxxxy stands five feet, seven inches tall, weighs 120 pounds.



The anatomically- correct robot has an articulated skeleton that can move like a person but can't walk or independently move its limbs.

Robotic movement is built into "the three inputs" and a mechanical heart that powers a liquid cooling system. Roxxxy comes in 5 personalities.

Soon, a breath controlled mobile

London: Imagine answering a call by blowing on your handset without touching button. Soon such mobile phones will be there with the revolutionary breath-controlled technology.
The technology called Sensawaft, still in its infancy, has been developed by a US firm, Zyxio. Sensawaft is powered by micro-electromechanical systems, tiny chips that can be embedded in other devices, such as video games or handsfree mobile phone headset.