Tech Hugger

Li-Fi Light Fidelity  ( Li-Fi ) is a bidirectional, high-speed and fully networked wireless communication technology similar to Wi-Fi. The term was coined by Harald Haas and is a form of visible light communication and a subset of optical wireless communications (OWC) and could be a complement to RF communication (Wi-Fi or cellular networks), or even a replacement in contexts of data broadcasting. It is wire and uv visible-light communication or infrared and near-ultraviolet instead of radio-frequency spectrum, part of optical wireless communications technology, which carries much more information and has been proposed as a solution to the RF-bandwidth limitations. Technology details This OWC technology uses light from light-emitting diodes (LEDs) as a medium to deliver networked, mobile, high-speed communication in a similar manner to Wi-Fi. The ...

Wardriving Wardriving  is the act of searching for Wi-Fi wireless networks by a person in a moving vehicle, using a portable computer, smartphone or personal digital assistant (PDA). Software for wardriving is freely available on the Internet, notably NetStumbler, InSSIDer, Vistumbler, or Ekahau Heat Mapper for Windows; Kismet or SWScanner for Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, DragonFly BSD, and Solaris; and KisMac for  Macintosh. There are some for both Windows and Macintosh, for example, NetSpot.  There are also homebrew wardriving applications for handheld game consoles that support Wi-fi, such as sniff jazz box/wardrive for the Nintendo DS/Android, Road Dog for the Sony PSP, WiFi-Where for the iPhone, G-MoN, Wardrive, Wigle Wifi for Android, and WlanPollution for  SymbianNokiaS60 ...

Self-Driving Car Tesla's Model X An  autonomous car  ( driverless car ,  self-driving car ,  robotic car ) is a vehicle that is capable of sensing its environment and navigating without human input. Autonomous cars can detect surroundings using a variety of techniques such as radar, lidar, GPS, odometry, and computer vision. Advanced control systems interpret sensory information to identify appropriate navigation paths, as well as obstacles and relevant signage. Autonomous cars have control systems that are capable of analyzing sensory data to distinguish between different cars on the road, which is very useful in planning a path to the desired destination. Some demonstrative systems, precursory to autonomous cars, date back to the 1920s and 30s. The first self-sufficient (and therefore, truly autonomous) cars appeared in the 1980s, with Carnegie Mellon University's Navlab and ALV proje...

Gorilla Glass Gorilla Glass  is a brand of specialized  toughened glass  developed and manufactured by Corning , now in its fourth generation, designed to be thin, light and damage-resistant. This type of glass is not unique to Corning; similar glasses include  Asahi Glass Co.   Dragontrail  and Schott AG  Xensation. The  alkali - aluminosilicate  sheet glass is used primarily as cover glass for portable electronic devices, including  mobile phones ,  portable media players ,  portable computer  displays, and some  television  screens. It is manufactured in  Harrodsburg, Kentucky , USA, in  Asan , Korea, and in Taiwan. The glass gains its surface strength, ability to contain flaws, and crack-resistance by being immersed in a hot potassium salt ion-exchange bath. A picture from Google images Corning further developed the material for a variety of  smartphones  and...

Graphics Tablet A  graphics tablet  or  digitizer  is a computer input device that enables a user to hand-draw images, animations and graphics, similar to the way a person draws images with a pencil and paper. These tablets may also be used to capture data or handwritten signatures. It can also be used to trace an image from a piece of paper which is taped or otherwise secured to the surface. Capturing data in this way, by tracing or entering the corners of linear poly-lines or shapes, is called digitizing. The device consists of a flat surface upon which the user may "draw" or trace an image using an attached  stylus , a pen-like drawing apparatus. The image is displayed on the computer monitor, although some graphics tablets also have a screen. Some tablets are intended as a replacement for the mouse as the primary pointing and navigation device for desktop computers. Wacom Bamboo Capture tablet and pen Wacom Cintiq Compani...

Car-to-Car Communication H ariharan Krishnan hardly looks like a street racer. With thin-rimmed glasses and a neat mustache, he reminds me of a math teacher. And yet on a sunny day last September, he was speeding, seemingly recklessly, around the parking lot at General Motors’ research center in Warren, Michigan, in a Cadillac DTS. I was in the passenger seat as Krishnan wheeled around a corner and hit the gas. A moment later a light flashed on the dashboard, there was a beeping sound, and our seats started buzzing furiously. Krishnan slammed on the brakes, and we lurched to a stop just as another car whizzed past from the left, its approach having been obscured by a large hedge. “You can see I was completely blinded,” he said calmly. The technology that warned of the impending collision will start appearing in cars in just a couple of years. Called car-to-car or vehicle-to-vehicle communication, it lets cars broadcast their position, speed, steering-wheel positi...

POINT OF SALE Point of sale  (also called  POS  or  checkout , during computerization later becoming  electronic point of sale  or  EPOS ) is the place where a retail transaction is completed. It is the point at which a customer makes a payment to the merchant in exchange for goods or services. At the point of sale the retailer would calculate the amount owed by the customer and provide options for the customer to make payment. The merchant will also normally issue a receipt for the transaction. The POS in various retail industries uses customized hardware and software as per their requirements. Retailers may utilize weighing scales, scanners, electronic and manual cash registers, EFTPOS terminals, touch screens and any other wide variety of hardware and software available for use with POS. For example, a grocery or candy store uses a scale at the point of sale, while bars and restaurants use software to customize the item or service s...