LG ThinQ: The Latest Smart Speaker Gadget to Hit the Market

In the last few years we have seen a number of smart speakers hitting the market with Amazon’s Alexa being one of the best that was out there. Now the LG ThinQ gadget is LG’s response to the smart speaker market due to be released at the Consumer electronics trade fair coming up soon.

Other than the norm that is having an assistant attached to the gadget that answers to your every need and fancy LG’s ThinQ boasts of doing much more. As of now there is not much by way of price or specifications. The company plans on making a full reveal of the gadget at the Consumer Electronics Trade show.

What does the LG ThinQ Gadget do? 

Besides the obvious voice control feature that is there in all smart speakers, this gadget also seems to work as a premium speaker as well with a premium audio experience and support for lossless high resolution audio courtesy of Meridian audio technology.

With Meridian audio technology this LG gadget promises to put out more natural and warm music.
The gadget has the Google assistant on it and can be used to control all of LG’s smart gadgets under the ThinQ banner like their smart dishwashers, dryers, refrigerators, vaccumcleaners lineup. The smart devices can also be controlled through a voice app from LG.

The LG gadget also supports a number of voices so that all of the house hold members can use the LG ThinQ.

With all the smart speakers out there like the Amazon Echo, Google’s home lineup or to be released Apple’s HomePod and without much info on the specs and pricing of the LG gadget, it is unclear as to how this gadget is going to fair in the market place.

The LG gadget comes as part of a number of AI gadgets that LG plans on releasing in the current year. Future LG devices may also be supported for Voice control.

Other gadget releases with the LG ThinQ: 

LG also teased about a new fun and portable PK speaker that can be carried anywhere and give high res audio due to the Apt-X HD bluetooth standard. The PK speaker can stream 24 bit music with original sounding audio.

LG also plans on releasing a party speaker that has karaoke, DJ capabilities and 1800 max output along with releasing a soundbar at the CES expo.

The SK10Y soundbar is a 5.1.2 channel support gadget with Chromecast support, lossless audio, Dolby Atmos processing and meridian high elevation standard to put the sound at the level of the TV.
More about these gadgets will be known at the consumer electronics expo to be held in Las Vegas on Jan 9th of this year.

Targeting Myopia through Next Gen Contact Lenses

New age contact lenses to bring respite to the people suffering from myopia

Millions of people are suffering from variety of eye disease one such popular eye deteriorating condition is myopia. But a team of researchers from Brisbane has successful developed the next gen contact lenses which can help in changing the loss of eye sight in the long run. This new contact lens has been developed with the partnership between the world’s largest contact lens manufacturer Johnson & Johnson Vision and Queensland University of Technology’s professor Michael Collins. This helped in boosting the research being conducted by the professor into myopia and helps in enhancing the contact lens design to the next level.

A collaboration to last for two decades

This enhanced contact lens is a result of the 20 year collaboration between these two in which 12 years will be given towards supporting the university’s research program for the global myopia epidemic. Professor Collins has stated that this collaboration will help them in understanding the development as well as the progression of myopia. It is worth noting that there are more than two billion are suffering from myopia globally and it affects almost 4 million people in Australia.

Currently the team of researchers are working towards finding better strategies to slow and stop this disease before finding a perfect way to prevent it. In upcoming next few years they will be focusing on developing new optical designs specifically for the next gen contact lenses which has the potential to slow down the eye growth.

What is myopia and how it affects you?

Myopia or nearsightedness is one of the most common ‘refractive error’ for the eye. It is caused by the eyes growing too long eventually resulting in reproduction of blurred images. In this condition people have difficulty reading and seeing distant objects clearly but they are able to see the close up things well enough without any issues.

People suffering myopia will have huge difficulty in reading signs too far away like billboards, road signs but reading books will be a simple task for them and in some cases using computer wouldn’t require spectacles.

Saving the human eyes with next gen contact lens

Professor Collins has asserted that his research isn’t just focused towards reducing and preventing the rise of myopia but towards helping people in seeing better and clearer than ever before. It should be noted that the people suffering from myopia area more likely to develop other eye problems as they get older. They are at the risk of contracting eyes problems like retinal degenerations which can eventually lead to the partial blindness.

Therefore it becomes vital to slow down the myopia progression right at the younger age. He even states that the two main causes of the myopia are genetic risk and environmental causes. People who happen to do a lot of near work like reading, spending time indoors, or looking at the computer screens longer duration are likely to develop myopia.

This next gen contact lens will help the people suffering from myopia to start their way on the road to slow progression rather than sharing the risk of partial blindness in later years.

Researchers Chart the ‘Secret’ Movement of Quantum Particles

The secret movement of the quantum particles is a secret no more

Quantum mechanics is a secretive domain which doesn’t give out everything at once rather scientists have to dig deeper to make new discoveries. This time around scientists has been able to come up a theoretical way of mapping the secret movement of the quantum particles which has been done earlier.

It is worth noting that the basic and quite fundamental idea associated with the quantum theory is that all of the quantum objects has the ability exists both like a particle or wave and they don’t even remain present in the manner unless they are being measured. The way quantum objects are present were famously described by Erin Schrodinger through his experiment which asked whether the cat is dead or not dead in the box.

Finding and measuring the quantum objects

Most of scientists assumes that quantum objects remains present in the wave form which helps in using mathematical tool and come up with rational representation of the quantum particles as they appear in the nature. Therefore it was necessary to map or track the secret movement of the quantum particles to know the exact nature of the quantum objects.

Every particle is expected to interact with the environment and when it does so it is registered as a tagging activity. A group of researchers has simply happened to outline a way in which these very tagging interactions can be tracked without even the need of looking at it.

Telepathy is a reality

Earlier quantum scientists put forward the idea that information can easily be transmitted two different persons without even the need of particles moving in between them. It might appear to be a figment of imagination or taken right out of a science fiction fantasy as it strikes just like telepathic connections.

However quantum scientists have a newly coined word for this phenomenon which is called counterfactual communication. The naming of this term is quite unusual as this mode of communication simply goes against long stand way standard way of communication wherein information has to be transferred between two different sources and in order to make it happen ‘particles’ have t move.

Now it is vital to measure this new method of communication and this can only be done through exactly finding where the particles when information is being transferred between the two different objects. The task of pin-pointing the particles in the quantum world isn’t a simple and usual task therefore scientists came up with the tagging method which allowed them to chart the secret movement of the particles in the quantum world. This method only helps in tracking the movement but it give any insight into what particle is doing.

A number of prior research showed that these particles might have the potential to do some non-classical things when they are not being observed and this non-classical thing could be the ability to remain in places at the same time. Using the tagging scientists will be soon uncovering the mystery surrounding the quantum particles when they are not being observed.

Lenovo Unveils New ThinkVision X24 LCD Monitor

Lenovo Thinkvision X24 Monitor

We all know that Lenovo is a renowned name when it comes to the laptop market and now with the ThinkVision X24 it proves that it does not do too bad when it comes to ultra- high display monitors too. Combining design and productivity, this monitor is not one to miss for those gaming enthusiasts and those who want a sleek professional looking monitor at their disposal.

Bagging in 3 Consumer Electronics Show awards since its release, the Lenovo ThinkVision X24 is a seek 24 inch 7.5mm thin screen that provides crystal clear display and high performance.

Design of the Lenovo ThinkVision X24 Monitor:

The Lenovo ThinkVision X24 is a 24 inch 7.5 mm sleek monitor that will look professional and high end anywhere. Coming in only 2.9 kgs without the stand and 3.9 kgs with it, the monitor is totally lightweight and packed with the latest that technology has to offer when it comes to monitors.

The Lenovo ThinkVision X24 comes with a chrome rod podium which is attached to a tilting feature at the back of the monitor. This rod is connected to a 22mm round base. The monitor is also designed in such a way so as to give an elegant and neat look when it comes to handling those pesky wires in the back.

The Lenovo ThinkVision X24 has two input slots one for HDMI and the other for a DisplayPort. The Lenovo ThinkVision X24 monitor can be used for watching your favorite shows on as you can connect it to a set-top box, it is also flexible when it comes to gaming on it.

As for gaming the full HD resolution and the angle that the monitor is in allows for a great experience for avid gamers. The rear of the Lenovo ThinkVision X24 comes with next generation neo blade 23.8 inch panel which replaces the traditional rear cover.

Performance of the Lenovo ThinkVision X24 Monitor:

The ThinkVision X24 monitor comes with a neo blade IPS panel which gives excellent display quality by supporting a 16.7 million color range. The response time of the imaging is 7ms. One complaint you may find with this monitor is that it gives off a whitish glow when displaying dark material on the screen. This is what is termed as an IPS Glow and is seemingly very common when it comes to IPS paneled monitors.

The Lenovo ThinkVision X24 supports 3840 by 2160 pixels at its DisplayPort. It can also support all the standard 3D formats. The HDMI port can also support a 4K display but at a fraction of the refresh rate as the DisplayPort which is at 60Hz.

The screen of the Lenovo ThinkVision X24 monitor is anti- glare and having anti- glare busting characteristics. That being said the Lenovo ThinkVision X24 monitor does not get annoying reflections or does not even get scratched easily.

The sleek and minimalistic look of the Lenovo ThinkVision X24 packed to the brim with the latest in technology offers a good value for money purchase that any individual would not be disappointed to see.

Sheffield Engineers Discover Some Sugars are Good for You

Innovative Technique - Formation of Blood Vessel with Sugar

For years we have been cautioned to keep away from sugar. However a latest research has come up with some amazing discoveries which could in fact be very beneficial to all. A research carried out by the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and the School of Clinical Dentistry at the University of Sheffield together with the Interdisciplinary Research Centre in Biomedical Materials Research at COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Lahore in Pakistan, has disclosed that sugar could be helpful in supporting new blood vessel formation which is also called as angiogenesis.

The formation of new blood vessel is vital in the process of wound healing since the blood vessels are inclined in carrying blood in every area of the body that tends to eventually supply the body with oxygen and the nutrients needed for the upkeep of health.

The latest technique of stimulating the formation of the blood vessel with sugar utilised a mixture of simple as well as economical sugar added to a hydrogel bandage. This method which has been effective tends to be much simpler as well as lucrative than the more traditional techniques like adding in expensive short-lived growth factors. This latest method considered as well as established by the research group, functions due to specific group of sugars has the capability of stimulating skin healing.
 

2 Deoxy-D-Ribose

 
Professor Sheila MacNeil from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Sheffield stated that all over the world people tend to live longer and have been experiencing more non-healing skin wounds related to age, poor blood supply together with diabetes. This tends to be complex to treat and is also expensive for healthcare system to handle.


The latest skin healing method utilising simple sugars has the potentials to assist healing of the wound in a very simple manner which means that patients tend to need less treatment; clinicians can treat more number of patients with the possibilities of savings which can be achieved by national healthcare systems.

Preliminary discovery done by Dr Muhammed Yar from COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Lahore at the time of his research to comprehend how tumours tend to stimulate new blood vessels and he observed that a naturally occurring sugar – 2-deoxy-D-ribose is said to increase when tumours encouraged new blood vessels to be prepared.
 

Ground-Breaking Discovery

 
The team working with Professor Sheila MacNeil together with professor Ian Douglas from the University of Sheffield then investigated the ability of this group of sugars in order to stimulate the formation of new blood vessels as well as the stimulation of wound healing with together produced amazing results.

This ground-breaking discovery is a significant step in developing simple robust as well as economical wound dressing which could be utilised in the treatment of poor-healing wounds like chronic ulcers in the case of the elderly and diabetic ulcers.

The research paper had been in print in Materials today Communications in a paper titled `Deoxy-sugar releasing biodegradable hydrogels promote angiogenesis and stimulate wound healing’, by Muhammad Yar, Lubna Shahzadi, Azra Mehmood, Muhammad Imran Raheen, Sabinian Roman, Aqif Anwar Chaudhry, Ihtesham ur Rehman, C.W. Ian Douglas together with Professor Sheila MacNeil.

Enormous growth had been envisaged by the Faculty of Engineering in the past four years which is a home to 5,400 students together with more than 1,000 staff which makes it one of the largest Institutes in the country. In the 2014 Research Excellence Framework, around 93 percent of the research had been rated internationally excellent or world prominent.
 

Sheffield - Most Leading Universities

 
The University of Sheffield is said to be one of the most leading universities in the world with almost 27,000 of the most intelligent students from across 140 countries, education beside over 1,200 of the best academics from all over the world. As member of the prestigious Russell Group of leading research led institutions in UK, Sheffield provides world-class teaching as well as research excellence through a wide range of restraints.

 Integrated with the influence of discovery as well as understanding, the staffs together with the students have been dedicated in identifying innovative methods of transforming the world which we tend to live in. Moreover, Sheffield is said to be the only university to be featuring in The Sunday Times 100 Best Not-For-Profit Organisation to Work For 2017 and had been voted as No. 1 University in the UK for Student Satisfaction by Times Higher Education for 2014.

Besides this it has also won four Queen’s Anniversary Prizes for exceptional involvement to the United Kingdom’s intellectual, cultural, economic as well as social life. Sheffield also has six Nobel Prize winners in the midst of earlier staff as well as students and its graduates are said to be holding position of immense responsibility and influence all across the globe. It has thus contributed in making substantial impact in their selected fields.