Wednesday 25 April 2018

How Google Autocomplete works in Search

The Workings behind Google Auto complete

We all know what autocomplete is and how it works (basically) but what we don’t really know is how much time it saves for us. A post by Google shows that Google autocomplete saves around 25% of our typing time or in other words around 200 YEARS of typing time per day, Yes you read right 200 YEARS per DAY! On the other hand google autocomplete is especially useful for mobile devices as you don’t have to take too long on typing on a smaller screen. Though, most of us have become master typists at this point.

Google Autocomplete is a feature that you will find anywhere, that is wherever there is a Google search bar like obviously Google Home, Google app present in Android and iOS, Quick search box in Android and Omnibox address bar within Chrome. Type and there you have the predictions appear.

Google uses the term predictions in Google Autocomplete:

In a Google article recently posted, Google has specifically used the word predictions to describe Google autocomplete rather than suggestions and for good reason too. Google autocomplete tries to predict what you want to search for, rather than showing you what different things you can search for.
Determining of Predictions on Google Autocomplete:

Google looks at real searches done by other users, trending information and your location and passed searches to create predictions in Google’s Autocomplete. It fills in predictions according to words already typed and eliminates search predictions that do not match words as and when more info is typed by us.

Predictions against Google Autocomplete rules:

When it comes to giving predictions, Google does not want to shock users in getting out- of- context and insensitive searches so they have put up a set of rules to govern the same within Google autocomplete.

Some of the predictions that are against the rules are hateful comments against groups or individuals on the basis of race, religion etc., predictions that are violent and dangerous and harmful predictions.
Google also removes predictions from Google autocomplete that are based on valid legal requests, those that are related to spam and those that relate to piracy.

 

Control mechanisms in place in Google Autocomplete:


Google does its best when it comes to controlling inappropriate predictions but with sifting through billions of searches per day sometimes inappropriate predictions on Google autocomplete slip through the cracks and that is why sometimes we see things that at times can be shocking.

Google has also started a feedback tool since last year that has been useful to them in removing unwanted predictions from Google autocomplete. They also plan on increasing the criteria for determining what is considered hateful in removing unwanted suggestions from Google autocomplete.

Reporting of Unwanted predictions:


Individuals too now can report anything that appears inappropriate on Google autocomplete. For those using a desktop there is “report inappropriate predictions” link that appears on the bottom of a search box and for those on Android, users can long press on the prediction to report it.

Saturday 21 April 2018

An Augmented Reality Microscope for Cancer Detection

An Augmented Reality Microscope will help in detecting cancer cells in upcoming days

With each passing day virtual reality, augmented reality and machine learning are opening new pathways in varied medical disciplines. It has been found that the application of the machine learning in varied medical departments specifically the radiology, ophthalmology, dermatology and pathology can help in deriving accurate and precise reports of the patients on global scale which can in turn boost the overall health sector on global level.



Google research team has come with an innovative and promising Augmented Reality Microscope, which has started showing remarkable results in detecting the breast cancer symptoms with highest rate of accuracy found only in very few trained pathologists.

This augmented reality microscope can perform a wide range of task like offering visual feedback, in form of the heat maps, contours, arrows, animation as well as some texts. As it is being powered by the machine learning it has got the ability to perform some problem solving as well as like going through smart object detection, classification as well as the quantification.

Google researchers have developed the augmented reality microscope based on the modern computation models along with the deep learning models using TensorFlow. The use of the machine learning algorithm helps in getting the output right on the screen in real time.

Detecting breast cancer based using new algorithms

Google researchers has trained this augmented reality microscope to run two very different cancer detection algorithms in order to detect cancer with highest rate of accuracy.One algorithm allows the augmented reality microscope to detect the breast cancer metastases present in the lymph node while the other algorithm trains it to detect the prostate cancer present in the prostatectomy specimens.

As it is able to take snaps in higher magnification of 4-40x, it allows the physician or researchers to have a look at the growing tumour regions with the green contour right on their screen. Furthermore these detailed imaging of the cells also allows the doctors or pathologist to carefully study the area under the influence of tumours cells without any issues.

Future application of the augmented reality microscope

Google is hopeful that augmented reality microscope will find its due place in the global health sector market along with making a huge impact in the same. It will be a great asset for the developing countries where it becomes extremely difficulty to detect the common infectious disease like tuberculosis and malaria in the early stages.

Apart from being robust in nature it is also quite light weight which will help it in finding it easily adoptable in wide varieties of industries globally apart from the pathology.

Secondly augmented reality microscope will also be finding a huge success in the digital industry here it can be used to create digital workflow prints which aren’t’ possible to be done by the modern scanners.

Healthcare will certainly be the prime focus of the Google in establishing, introducing and marketing the augmented reality microscope in the upcoming days but tech giant is also looking forward to bring this revolutionary device to the life research and material science disciples as well.

Tuesday 17 April 2018

This Fire Detecting Wallpaper Can Turn an Entire Room into an Alarm

Fire Detecting Wallpaper

Fire Detecting Wallpaper: The wallpaper of the future!

Have you ever heard of wallpaper that can not only detect fire in the area that it is in but also helps in preventing its spread? Well neither have I until now that is. Researchers have come up with wallpaper that can detect fire and which is also fire resistant. Made of a material that is found in bone teeth and hormones, yes you read right, this fire detecting wallpaper, may actually stop the spread of flames and also alert you to the fact that your house is on fire.

Those colorful, beautiful wallpaper that you find in stores today are actually highly flammable made of such materials such as plant cellulose fibers and synthetic polymers, these wallpapers will help a fire spread in the nick of time making recovery of anything near impossible. Researchers of the fire detecting wallpaper have swapped out those flammable materials for something strange yet environmentally friendly.


The strange material in fire detecting wallpaper:

Fire detecting wallpaper is made of a material commonly found in bone teeth and hormone, (God knows where they got the idea from), this material known as hydroxyapatite is fashioned into long and by that I mean really long nanowires to give it high flexibility.

This hydroxyapatite material, that is used to make the fire detecting wallpaper, actually helps the wallpaper in preventing the spread of flames.

Making the fire detecting wallpaper “smart”:

Researchers didn’t just make the fire detecting wallpaper preventive of fire, they also wanted to make it “smart”. To do this they added sensors to the fire detecting wallpaper made from drops of graphene oxide in an inky mixture.

This graphene oxide acts in two ways, at room temp, it acts as an insulator, that is it blocks the flow of electricity while under high temperature say when there is a fire, it makes the fire detecting wallpaper conductive and this completes a circuit that sound an alarm.

Researchers also boast that this alarm on the fire detecting wallpaper can last for a prolonged period of more than five minutes.

So to fit it all in one nice package, the fire detecting wallpaper is not only non-flammable but also high in temperature resistance and has an automatic fire alarm.

The wallpaper that you find in today’s stores are highly flammable and won’t do nothing when it comes to a fire in the house while the fire detecting wallpaper has a high flexibility, it can also be processed into various shapes, made in different colors and made with a commercial printer.

But all this won’t come cheap, the fire detecting wallpaper, because of their materials come at a very steep price tag. They may be environmentally friendly but not really pocket friendly, making you think that you’d rather take your chances when and if there is a fire with normal wallpaper.

The next thing on the agenda, therefore, for scientists is that they now are looking for more cost effective ways of making fire detecting wallpaper, that will be easy on a person’s wallet.

Monday 16 April 2018

Huge Google Sheets Update Introduces Macros

Google Sheets Update

Google Updates Google Sheets by Bringing in Macros to the Sheet

As with all Google products, at some point or the other, they all undergo some updates, it’s no different for Google sheets too. One of the major updates to Google sheets will be the addition of macros, which many are relieved to see on the Google platform. Who’s to say this won’t bring Microsoft excel users to Google sheets. Adding macros to Google sheets will give those hard core users of spreadsheets a much needed break as they won’t have to do the same thing over and over again.

Being a part of every other major suite out there, macros was sorely missing out in Google sheets. This addition to Google’s sheets will be a big thumbs up in their favor. With this Google sheets update, users will be able to finally record macros. Doing the same thing over and over again is boring and not to mention time consuming and with the advent of computers we thought we could put all that in the past but for a long time not having Macros in Google sheets seemed that we were still in that past.

Adding Macros to Google sheets: 


Adding Macros to Google sheets may be the most useful update to Google Sheets in a long long time. Now you will be able to see a new “record Macros” feature present in the tool bar that does exactly what you hope it would do- to stop you from having to repeat instructions again and again.

All you have to do is start your recording, go through your steps and when it is all done sit back and relax and by that I mean start the whole process again by simply running macros again.

The future is here with Google sheets at last. Now you needn’t spend more time on formatting and reformatting the same spreadsheet again and again or until you pull out all the hair on your head.

Going further, Google sheets even converts your macros into Apps script code, so if you are so inclined to make any changes you can always edit that app script.

Adding other features to Google Sheets:


Macros is not the only new feature to be added on to Google sheets. You can now also add page breaks to demarcate the pages you want to print, customize page sizes, the option to convert a cell into a check box list, there are also new options for row and column grouping and you can now even group data according to time frame like by week, month or year.

Google is even adding artificial intelligence to Google sheets. Google has even added intelligent pivot tables in their Google sheets which will help in analyzing and helping the user in getting more insights into their data irrespective of their skills in data analytics.

With “Explore” found in Google sheets, you will now be able to decipher the data on spreadsheets more easily than ever before. This feature uses machine intelligence to do that.

Thursday 12 April 2018

Direct High-Speed Charging of Electric Cars by Solar Panels

Direct Charging of Electric Cars

Charging Electric cars via a solar panel

Electric cars are now the “in thing”. With this fad on the up and up, many are now looking for ways to charge the car in ways that can be energy efficient. The whole point of these electric cars is that they should not take up much fuel and can be charged from renewable sources of energy that does not require the burning of fossil fuels, which would otherwise be the same thing as filling up the car with all fuel. Therefore researchers have now discovered a novel way to charge these electric cars using solar energy.

Researchers are now considering charging electric cars using solar panels. By using this method of charging the cars, people will not only save the environment from the burning of fossil fuels but will also be using a renewable source of energy, this is besides getting tax concessions.

Charging electric cars using solar panels and their problems: 


Present practice in using a solar panel means that charge from the solar panel has to be converted from direct current to alternating current to charge an electric car. This normally would require a 50Hz AC network, to convert the direct current into alternating current.

But this method is not really beneficial for anyone. In that it is not cost effective or efficient. This is because of two main reasons. To convert current to AC involves a lot of costs and needs many steps. Secondly, to convert from DC to AC requires two converters one for the solar panel and the other for the car, again leading to high costs and installments.

What’s the solution then? 


A better alternative as discovered by the researchers is to use a single converter that charges the car from the panels via a DC link which connects to the AC electricity grid.

Researchers then came up with a 10kW converter that has an internal DC link and three terminals that would allow the car to charge both from the solar panel and the electricity grid.

What’s so good about this method is that the integrated DC charger has a higher efficiency and is three times smaller than the current practice.

Another advantage of using this method is that not only will you be able to charge your car, you will now also be able to charge your entire house using this new method. You could also return the electricity back to the grid that is not before first converting it into AC.

The Future of Charging Electric cars: 


This system can be expanded to connect several chargers to solar panels thus expanding its use to business parks and residential areas. The company Power Research Electronics has gone a step further and made this theoretical system a reality by developing a number of high speed charging stations of this type.
In this way electric cars will not only consume less fuel, thereby burning less fossil fuel and in turn less damage to the atmosphere, but will also earn tax concessions by using a renewable source of energy.

Wednesday 11 April 2018

HumanDrive Project: Mimicking human driving in autonomous vehicles

HumanDrive Project

HumanDrive Project: Human like driving in Autonomous cars

With AI technology and machine learning the latest “in things”, autonomous driving was never that far away. We already see some forms of it on the road, whether it be in the form of autonomous parking or cruise control, all of this has to do with AI and machine learning tech. The HumanDrive project started by Nissan’s European center will test out how autonomous cars face the UK terrain, through country sides and motorways.

The HumanDrive project will feature a 30 month trek across the UK all without the input or intervention of humans. It’s going to be human- like driving without the human behind the steering wheel.

What is the HumanDrive Project? 


The HumanDrive project aims at making the outside world think that a human is driving a car when in reality all the systems within the car will be operated by a machine. The challenge is for the autonomous car to appear like a human is driving it through all types of terrains and through all types of landscapes whether it be through the country side or in crowded towns.

Handing in the reins of the vehicle to a machine, may prove to be a smoother experience for a driver than simply using automated driving for parking or during cruise control.

Using various simulation models and in depth analysis of how drivers behave on the road were the key ingredients when it came to developing automated driving in the HumanDrive project.

By identifying the key ingredients in the HumanDrive project, researchers were able to list the risks and behaviors of human drivers in those scenarios and establish it within the HumanDrive project.

How autonomous should a car be in the HumanDrive Project? 


Studies conducted by researchers on the HumanDrive project was done so as to determine the degree of autonomous driving that people preferred and whether the driving should mimic individual styles. All these studies were directed at determining the level of control in such autonomous vehicles in the HumanDrive project.

Testing of the HumanDrive project: 


Researchers applied an externally created autonomous driving software to a simulation model in order to determine risks and responses in those settings.

Another method of testing had been to develop geo-specific databases that would give the autonomous vehicle a feel of the terrain in which they would be driving.

The HumanDrive Journey: 


The HumanDrive project will kick start its 200 plus mile journey through the UK and culminate in December of next year. The journey will take the autonomous vehicles through the country side and motorways. The whole idea behind the project is to foster confidence in such human-less vehicles and to increase public awareness of them. Another aim of the HumanDrive project is to aid public authorities to benefit from such automated technologies.

The business of automated vehicles: 

Low carbon consumption vehicles and automated vehicles are the future of transport. As the demand for these vehicles increase and more and more people go in for such transport the possibilities of this business sector is enormous. To be more accurate it is 52bn pounds by the year 2035 to the UK alone.

Saturday 7 April 2018

TESS to Search the Sky for New Worlds

The Search for New worlds begins with TESS

Is earth the only inhabitable planet or are there more planets out there that could potentially become a home far away from home for us? Scientists are all ready to launch TESS or Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, which will reportedly look for planets outside the solar system that could potentially support life on their surfaces. TESS will look at the atmospheric compositions of these planets and determine whether they could support life.

TESS is all set for an April 16 launch, with scientists making the final preparations for its two year stint in space. TESS will look for planets around nearby starts that give hints of a livable atmosphere.
TESS will analyze Atmospheric compositions of planets:

Scientists believe that atmospheric compositions hold clues as to whether a planet can hold life or not and this is what TESS will be sent out to do.

TESS is tasked with finding exoplanets by analyzing something that is known as “transit”. Transit is when a planet passes in front of a start causing a dip in the brightness of that star. In the past, scientists have discovered many exoplanets using the technique of transit. Most of these planets are 300 to 3000 lightyears away from us.

TESS’s follow up program will look at the mass of various planets some 4 times the radius of the earth and others smaller than earth.

How will Transit Help scientists? 


With transit, TESS will be able to identify exoplanets and then scientists will use a technique known as “spectroscopy” which is the study of the absorption and emission of light, to determine the mass, density and atmospheric composition of a specific planet.

The water content and other molecules present in the atmosphere of a planet will give key clues as to the possibility of a planet to harbor life.

The Follow-up Observations: 


Follow- up observations of TESS’s findings will be made by scientists using MEarth telescopes which are robotically controlled observatories. Another way scientists plan on observing findings is through a KeplerCam present on a 48 inch telescope. MEarth and Kepler cam will be used to confirm the star that TESS identifies in the transit period.

TESS Guest Investigator Program: 


The worldwide scientific community will be able to participate in this mission through TESS Guest Investigator Program. This participation will maximize the return expected from the mission and contribute in the study of stellar astrophysics, exoplanet characterization and general solar system science.

Launch of TESS: 


TESS is expected to launch on April 16 of this year for its two year mission. The launch will be from Space Launch Complex 40 Cape Canaveral Air Force Station located in Florida.

With the help of gravity from the moon, TESS will begin a 13.7 day orbit of the earth and sixty days after its launch and after checking all its instruments it will begin its two year mission in space. TESS will be all set to discover planets that could potentially hold human life.

Thursday 5 April 2018

Researchers Develop Nanoparticle Films for High-Density Data Storage

Nanoparticle Films
High density data storage gets a boost with the development of nanoparticle films

Data generation in this age is quadrupling with each passing day and we are unable to store or manage the mammoth amount of data at our disposal. Therefore finding an alternative which enables us to store data at longer period of time with great stability has become a critical necessity. Now researchers from Northeast Normal University in China has developed new nanoparticle films which are 80 times thinner than the human hair but can easily help in high density data storage. Researchers have asserted that these nanoparticle films can easily archive more than 1000 times worth of data than the traditional DVD on just a 10 by 10 centimeter large piece of film.

Promises usage from wearable device to deep space

It is a remarkable technology and we are likely to see it being used in the wearable devices in the short time. These nanoparticle films can also store the 3D images of the objects or people which can viewed as a 3D hologram with natural realistic and in-depth details later on. These nanoparticle films can be used in the regular devices and the storage medium developed by its usage is also environmentally stable which means used in the outside condition or can even be utilized in the space conditions where harmful radiations are the way of life.

Storing more and more data by taking less and less space

This new kind of nanoparticle films has been designed specifically for the new age holographic data storage. This data storage hasn't found much support or recognition so of today as it makes use of the laser to create as well as read the 3-D holographic recreation of the data present on the nanoparticle films. It is blazing fast with the ability to write as well as read millions of bits at once which makes the holographic data storage way ahead of its traditional counterparts.

The traditional counterpart are namely the optic and magnetic data storage system which happens to record and read just individual bits at a time with is both time consuming and extremely slow when it comes to huge amount of data.

Holographic approach in the high density data storage allows researchers to record information throughout the 3D volume of the entire naoparticle materials. Herein data is not just recorded on the surface but it also researchers to record multiple data or images in the same given area by simply using the light at varied angles and using different colours. Researchers are also working on recoding holographic images on the titania silver films in order to get the similar performance with lesser effort and higher stability.

At the moment researchers are aggressively planning to test the environmental stability of these nanoparticle films in order to ensure quick and safe real life application of the same in the upcoming days. It will certainly help in removing the data storage woes of millions of users worldwide with simple and easier application.

Tuesday 3 April 2018

Here Are Five New Google Features That Make Life Easier And More Enjoyable

Google
Google has recently made a few updates to its products, that makes using them even more easier than ever before. Google has never really stopped making upgrades and adjustments to its products but these new features are guaranteed to make life easier. Whether it be watching movies or hearing an audiobook, Google has got you covered.

Google’s new Features for Audiobooks: 

Starting its audiobook app back in Jan, Google has already started to get on with the updates to the service that is guaranteed to make your listening even more enjoyable. One such feature is “smart resume” whereby you can resume a book from a word or a sentence that you left off from. This feature is great when you stop a book unexpectedly for a long period and then want to start off just where you left off.

Google Play Book app has now started a bookmark feature where you can bookmark a page and return to it later by simply pressing on an icon. Another cool feature with the audiobooks is that you can now build them into your routine with Google assistant, so now for your daily commute to the workplace you can switch from listening to music to hearing an audiobook. The speed at which a book is read can now be expanded from .5 to 3 times the reading rate.

Letting your Home assistant control your Bluetooth Speakers: 

One cool feature Google has added with the home assistant is that it can now control the quality of an audiobook, so you can now get the maximum experience when listening to a voice read an audiobook over a home controlled Bluetooth speaker. One home device is capable of connecting to all the Bluetooth speakers in the house so your reading can stay with you wherever you move in the house.

Setting location based reminders using home: 

Apart from connecting to a Bluetooth speaker, Home can now remind you of a particular activity when you are at a specific location and at a specified time.

Accessing GIFs in Google Images: 

Instead of asking the assistant to remind you to place a certain GIF in a certain place at a certain time, you can now use Tenor which Google recently purchased. Tenor is a GIF sharing keyboard that you can use on your mobile or desktop. So you can now get the GIF you want at the right time and place.
Tenor has got over 300 million people search for over 12 billion GIFs every month using its platform.

New features in Google Play Movies and TV app: 

One of the new features added by Google is that you can now search for a movie that you want to watch and it will bring up not only the sale of the movie but also a list of places that the movie can be streamed online.

Another cool feature is that you can search for a movie by genre and tune the search according to a thumbs up or thumbs down system.

Sunday 1 April 2018

Chromebook Tablets for Versatile Learning

Chromebook
Google has introduced Chromebook tablets which can be used even by students in the third grade itself. The Chromebook tablets are for the low cost Chrome OS devices.

The Acer Chromebook Tab 10 is the first Chromebook tablet that has been revealed by Google. The Acer Chrome book Tab 10, will be the first tablet to run on Chrome OS.

Features 

The Acer Chromebook Tab 10 has a 9.7 inch, 2048 x 1536 display with front and rear facing cameras. It comes with an OP1 processor, 4GB RAM, 32 GB storage and a USB-C port. It has a microSD card slot and a headphone jack. The Chromebook tablet has about 9 hour battery life. The Chrome book tablets come with an in-built stylus that does not require a battery or any additional charging and touchscreen. The Chrome book tablets will be priced at $329.

The students of third grade, at a school in California were the first to test the device. The Chromebook tablets are a great device for them because of the technology and touchscreen.

The Chrome book tablet is first targeting the schools and later will be available for the consumers as well.

In classrooms, the teacher will give each student a device and the session begins. The student then logs in with their name and password, complete their work or even play on the Tab and when they are done, can log out. All the user information on the Chrome book tablet has been encrypted. Each time the device is booted, the verified boot checks the security of the device.

The Chromebook tablet comes with an in-built stylus which does not require charging or pairing to function.

The Chrome book tablets are light in weight with touch and stylus features. It is the ideal device for students to create multimedia projects and the user gets an engaging and absorbing experience. The Acer Chrome book Tab 10 supports many of the learning apps that can be obtained from a wide range of apps from the Play Store.

The first Chrome book tablet which is the Acer Chrome book Tab 10 is slated to be made available by the end of this year.

Advantages of Chromebook tablets 

The Chromebook tablets come with support, management and an in-built access to educational content. Google provides continuous support, updates and ensures security. Hence it becomes convenient and hassle free for the teachers and students using the Chromebook tablets.

The price of these devices is lower than laptops and hence they are more affordable even for personal use.

The Chromebook tablets can be set up within minutes. A Chromebook management license enables you to access the web-based management console. From there you can configure and manage 10 or 10,000 devices across the institution, local education authority or even across the entire region.

The students can share a single device and can even get a personal learning experience by just logging in. Each student can access his or her own work, apps, books and videos.