The final week of 2016 came to a conclusion yesterday. So, we at Indianweb2.com decided to provide you with a quick recap of all the important tech related news that took place in the last 2016 week.
1) India Has Its First Laser Technology-Based Check-Post
India’s very first laser technology-based advanced Automatic Vehicle Monitoring System(AVMS) equipped interstate RTO check post was inaugurated by Gujarat Chief Minister, Vijay Rupani at Shamlaji of Aravalli district near Gujarat-Rajasthan border.
Carrying a heavy cost of Rs 4.72 crore, the check-post comes equipped with advanced ray technology. It’s state-of-the-art automatic system is capable of checking overloaded vehicles and fining them.
The new AVMS RTO check post come well-equipped with laser technology and advanced tools for making the entire process transparent and eliminating the influence of middlemen and mafias at the check posts.
2) Smart electricity meters can be dangerously insecure, warn experts
According to security experts, Smart electricity meters, of which there are more than 100m employed all around the world, are dangerously insecure. The absence of security in these smart utilities can lead to a single line of malicious code cutting electricity to a house or even causing a dangerous overload leading to exploding electricity meters and house fires.
While the physical security of the smart meters is still strong, it is the wireless protocols that are problematic. A majority of the smart meters make use of GSM, the 2G mobile standard to communicate with the utility company. GSM's weakness wherein an attacker with a fake mobile tower can instruct devices to “hand over” to the fake version from the real tower, simply by providing a strong signal, is a well-known thing all around the world. Since in GSM, devices authenticate with towers, and not the other way round, this allows the fakemast to send its own commands to the smart meter.
3) Twitter may finally let users edit their tweets
The famous 140-characters social networking site is finally considering providing its users a feature they have been longing for too long. Twitter is finally looking at ways it could allow its users to edit their tweets.
According to Twitter's chief executive Jack Dorsey, since Twitter is seen as the public record for high-profile figures, so allowing them to edit posts retrospectively would require a history/log of all the changes made to the tweet. Twitter is currently working on how to make the same possible.
4) Amazon's flying warehouses to dispatch drone deliveries from the sky
Internet retailer Amazon has designed an innovative floating warehouse that would be placed thousands of feet up in the air, from which the world famous retailer plans to dispatch an army of delivery drones to metropolitan areas.
The e-retailer has patented its futuristic plans for humongous "airborne fulfillment centres" that would be make up as bases for aerial deliveries to homes. Flying at up to 45,000 feet up in the air, the warehouses would be suspended by cables from zeppelin-style airships, and stocked with all popular Amazon items. This way, whenever a customer would make an order, an onboard drone from the warehouse will come into action and deliver it without taking much time. After the delivery, the drone will be sent back up to the station by a shuttle that will also be capable of restocking and refuelling the floating warehouse whenever needed.
5) Toilet paper for smartphones now on offer at Japanese airport
While a majority of us were thinking about it, a Japanese mobile company actually went ahead and did it. Our smartphone is a basic tool of survival for many of us which stays with most of the times; even during eating, sleeping and working. Hence, the Smartphone runs the high risk of carrying germs. In order to make our phones germ free, we need to clean our phones on a daily basis, a simple thing which many of us just don't do.
NTT Docomo, Japan's largest mobile operator, decided to do something about the issue, and installed dispensers for "toilet paper" to be used on smartphones in the conveniences at Japan's Narita International Airport.
According to the company, the service in response to a finding that smartphone screens have carry more than five times the amount of germs found on a toilet seat.
6) Bitcoin price at record high against Pound and Euro
The week saw Bitcoin's reaching a new all-time high against the pound, with the virtual currency now well above the previous record levels of late 2013. One bitcoin was worth £782.49 on Wednesday this week, above the £694.65 it had reached on November 29 2013.
The rise in trends has been attributed to the steady devaluation of the Chinese yuan. Since a lot of bitcoin trading takes place in China, so financial conditions in the country have a huge impact on the currency's price.
7) 'Bionic eye' implants offer hope for blind NHS patients
Ten people with an inherited form of blindness will be fitted with "bionic eye" implants in a procedure that will be funded by NHS England. The selected 10 will be provided with a pair of glasses mounted with a camera which will capture light and send wireless signals to an implant in the retina. The implant will then send information to the brain to help the patients regain some sight.
The Argus II Bionic Eye by Second Sight, has been trialled and tested to treat those suffering from age-related macular degeneration, which is the most common cause of sight loss in the developed world.
8) Eco Wave Power turns wave power into electricity
Eco Wave Power, a Tel Aviv-based firm is capturing the ocean's untapped energy by making floats that attach to coastal infrastructure to harvest wave power and convert it into electricity.
The firm's floats are attached to quays and jetties via the flexible arms. As the ocean swells move in, the firm's floats' rising and sinking motion ends up creating intense pressure that's harnessed by the hydraulic cylinders and transmitted via the subsea cables to the land, where it spins a generator to create electricity.
9) Ford reveals its latest autonomous car
Ford unveiled its second-generation driverless Fusion Hybrid just a week before it is scheduled to show the car off at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The second generation of the vehicle shows the company doing away with the pipe organ-style suite of sensors on the roof and going in for a more streamlined look.
10) Twitter launches 360-degree video streaming on Periscope
Twitter has decided to bring live 360-degree video streams to Periscope. In order to do the same on desktop, a user is required to click and drag around on the screen to rotate the camera. For mobile, one can twist and turn their phone to change their perspective.
1) India Has Its First Laser Technology-Based Check-Post
India’s very first laser technology-based advanced Automatic Vehicle Monitoring System(AVMS) equipped interstate RTO check post was inaugurated by Gujarat Chief Minister, Vijay Rupani at Shamlaji of Aravalli district near Gujarat-Rajasthan border.
Carrying a heavy cost of Rs 4.72 crore, the check-post comes equipped with advanced ray technology. It’s state-of-the-art automatic system is capable of checking overloaded vehicles and fining them.
The new AVMS RTO check post come well-equipped with laser technology and advanced tools for making the entire process transparent and eliminating the influence of middlemen and mafias at the check posts.
2) Smart electricity meters can be dangerously insecure, warn experts
According to security experts, Smart electricity meters, of which there are more than 100m employed all around the world, are dangerously insecure. The absence of security in these smart utilities can lead to a single line of malicious code cutting electricity to a house or even causing a dangerous overload leading to exploding electricity meters and house fires.
While the physical security of the smart meters is still strong, it is the wireless protocols that are problematic. A majority of the smart meters make use of GSM, the 2G mobile standard to communicate with the utility company. GSM's weakness wherein an attacker with a fake mobile tower can instruct devices to “hand over” to the fake version from the real tower, simply by providing a strong signal, is a well-known thing all around the world. Since in GSM, devices authenticate with towers, and not the other way round, this allows the fakemast to send its own commands to the smart meter.
3) Twitter may finally let users edit their tweets
The famous 140-characters social networking site is finally considering providing its users a feature they have been longing for too long. Twitter is finally looking at ways it could allow its users to edit their tweets.
According to Twitter's chief executive Jack Dorsey, since Twitter is seen as the public record for high-profile figures, so allowing them to edit posts retrospectively would require a history/log of all the changes made to the tweet. Twitter is currently working on how to make the same possible.
4) Amazon's flying warehouses to dispatch drone deliveries from the sky
Internet retailer Amazon has designed an innovative floating warehouse that would be placed thousands of feet up in the air, from which the world famous retailer plans to dispatch an army of delivery drones to metropolitan areas.
The e-retailer has patented its futuristic plans for humongous "airborne fulfillment centres" that would be make up as bases for aerial deliveries to homes. Flying at up to 45,000 feet up in the air, the warehouses would be suspended by cables from zeppelin-style airships, and stocked with all popular Amazon items. This way, whenever a customer would make an order, an onboard drone from the warehouse will come into action and deliver it without taking much time. After the delivery, the drone will be sent back up to the station by a shuttle that will also be capable of restocking and refuelling the floating warehouse whenever needed.
5) Toilet paper for smartphones now on offer at Japanese airport
While a majority of us were thinking about it, a Japanese mobile company actually went ahead and did it. Our smartphone is a basic tool of survival for many of us which stays with most of the times; even during eating, sleeping and working. Hence, the Smartphone runs the high risk of carrying germs. In order to make our phones germ free, we need to clean our phones on a daily basis, a simple thing which many of us just don't do.
NTT Docomo, Japan's largest mobile operator, decided to do something about the issue, and installed dispensers for "toilet paper" to be used on smartphones in the conveniences at Japan's Narita International Airport.
According to the company, the service in response to a finding that smartphone screens have carry more than five times the amount of germs found on a toilet seat.
6) Bitcoin price at record high against Pound and Euro
The week saw Bitcoin's reaching a new all-time high against the pound, with the virtual currency now well above the previous record levels of late 2013. One bitcoin was worth £782.49 on Wednesday this week, above the £694.65 it had reached on November 29 2013.
The rise in trends has been attributed to the steady devaluation of the Chinese yuan. Since a lot of bitcoin trading takes place in China, so financial conditions in the country have a huge impact on the currency's price.
7) 'Bionic eye' implants offer hope for blind NHS patients
Ten people with an inherited form of blindness will be fitted with "bionic eye" implants in a procedure that will be funded by NHS England. The selected 10 will be provided with a pair of glasses mounted with a camera which will capture light and send wireless signals to an implant in the retina. The implant will then send information to the brain to help the patients regain some sight.
The Argus II Bionic Eye by Second Sight, has been trialled and tested to treat those suffering from age-related macular degeneration, which is the most common cause of sight loss in the developed world.
8) Eco Wave Power turns wave power into electricity
Eco Wave Power, a Tel Aviv-based firm is capturing the ocean's untapped energy by making floats that attach to coastal infrastructure to harvest wave power and convert it into electricity.
The firm's floats are attached to quays and jetties via the flexible arms. As the ocean swells move in, the firm's floats' rising and sinking motion ends up creating intense pressure that's harnessed by the hydraulic cylinders and transmitted via the subsea cables to the land, where it spins a generator to create electricity.
9) Ford reveals its latest autonomous car
Ford unveiled its second-generation driverless Fusion Hybrid just a week before it is scheduled to show the car off at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The second generation of the vehicle shows the company doing away with the pipe organ-style suite of sensors on the roof and going in for a more streamlined look.
10) Twitter launches 360-degree video streaming on Periscope
Twitter has decided to bring live 360-degree video streams to Periscope. In order to do the same on desktop, a user is required to click and drag around on the screen to rotate the camera. For mobile, one can twist and turn their phone to change their perspective.
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