Author Archives: Grońska Julia

24 January 2020
2 Comments
Bez kategorii

Selfie Type – an innovative app from Samsung

Reading Time: < 1 minute

How many times have you been writing something on your tablet or your phone and the keyboard on the screen was too small or too big for you? Or maybe it was just inconvenient? With this new app called Selfie Type made by Samsung, it won’t be a problem anymore.

How is the app working?

The app “delivers a virtual keyboard to users with the help of an AI algorithm and a front-facing camera”. With this technology you are typing on a virtual keyboard wherever you are and whenever you want. For example, you are in a coffee shop and you need to answer an important e-mail. It couldn’t be easier! You use a virtual keyboard and you don’t have to deal with this small one on your phone.

The video will be the best explanation of this new technology:

Selfie Type was shown at CES (Consumer Electronics Show) 2020 which took place at the beginning of January. “It is expected to be launched in 2020” but there is no other information about the exact date.

It is definitely something new on the market but is it going to be useful for everyone or just a small bunch of people? Not everyone can type without looking on the keyboard so will it be easy for them? Will they handle the keyboard without it actually being shown? 

Let me know in the comments what do you think about this idea!

References:

Tagged , ,
6 January 2020
2 Comments
Bez kategorii

A cat you would never expect to see

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Cats are one of the most lovely and charming creatures on this planet. Sure, they walk their paths and at first, you may think they are rather individualists but that is not always true. Everyone, at least, likes animals and a lot of people want to have their own pet. However, it is sometimes not possible for them to have one because, for example, of the allergies. Approximately 15%-20% of people with allergies are allergic to cat’s and/or dog’s fur. It may seem like there is no other option for animal lovers who are allergic to them to have their own pet. You couldn’t be more wrong.

Elephant Robotics created a furless robotic cat called MarsCat. On their official website, they call the Cat as “she” so I won’t be different. The company tried to make her act and look like a real cat. I think they succeeded. The Cat sleeps, walks, meows, purrs and looks a lot like our furry friend. She can stretch, tap, show different emotions. The MarsCat can play with you because she sees the objects. She can hear you and you can even rub her chin and she will feel it. The Cat has 6 characters that you can create by yourself. It depends on how much time you play with her and pay attention to her. According to www.elephantrobotics.com – the Elephant Robotics official website – “She may be enthusiastic or aloof, energetic or lazy, social or shy. If you barely respond to her and try to play with her later, she may ignore you”. According to an article on The Verge, it will cost $1,299 but “$649 for the first 100 backers”.

This may seem like a pretty good solution for people with allergies because the Cat doesn’t have fur or the elderly because she is not that demanding as a normal cat. However, is it worth buying? Apart from the purchase cost of MarsCat, will it be a long-lasting relation as with a real cat or will it be just an expensive toy for a few weeks?

In my opinion, she wouldn’t replace a real cat and she might be even a little bit scary – a cat with lots of wires in it.  You have fun, a good time with a robotic cat and everything is great. In a while, you get tired of it, you don’t want to “take care” of it anymore so you just reset it or turn off and put it somewhere. You have a zero connection with her. When it comes to a real cat you have a responsibility and you need to do things connected with your pet, you have a strong relation with it. 

But, maybe that’s what it is all about – a great toy that you can use any time you want. Let me know what do you think about this idea!

References:

Tagged ,
28 November 2019
5 Comments
Bez kategorii

Paper made of rocks instead of trees

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Nowadays, deforestation is a hot topic. More and more trees are being cut out for many reasons. According to the article on livescience.com “forests cover more than 30% of the Earth’s land surface. […] The tropics lost about 158,000 square kilometers of forest in 2017”. This number is huge. Trees are very important in our lives because they are producing oxygen that is necessary to live. 

Because of that, a special paper which is made of rocks was created. It is waterproof, better for the environment and can last long. This “paper is made of about 80% calcium carbonate. A Taiwanese supplier, Taiwan Lung Meng Advanced Composite Materials, pulverizes the rock left from construction and quarries, fuses it with plastic that holds it together, then compresses it with massive rollers until it’s paper-thin.” The process of making stone paper is not that complicated and it uses leftovers that are not needed anymore.

There are already few companies on the market which are using such paper. They are not cheap, considering a notebook on karststonepaper.com costs around $25 and on agood.com $29, but they are better for the environment and can help reduce deforestation.

This kind of material is new and unknown, so when it comes to recycling no one can tell exactly where we should throw it away.

There are also a few disadvantages of this paper. 

First of all, you can’t use fountain pens on this paper (they are waterproof so it wouldn’t work). This paper “can be used in inkjet printers, but laser printers are off-limits because of their heat and the plastic in the stone paper.” However, are those really strong disadvantages?

What’s more?

On agood.com besides notebooks made of rocks you can also find pens made of grass or glue sticks made from recycled BPA-free plastics.

What do you think of this idea? Would you use stone paper? Let me know!

References:

Tagged , , ,
10 November 2019
1 Comment
Bez kategorii

A surgery which can help with drug addiction

Reading Time: 2 minutes

There are almost 15 million people in the world each year who are addicted to opioid drugs. Some of them can be treated by medicines, behavioral therapies or hospital treatment. For the others, these ways are not working. Because of it, there is another solution. It’s a brain implant.

It is inserted into a human’s body and then brain activity will be monitored by a special team of doctors and addiction experts to see if it’s working. The purpose is to decrease the desire of taking a drug. It is called deep brain stimulation (DBS) and it’s used not only for drug addiction problems but mainly for Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy and obsessive compulsive disorder. According to the article on BBC News, “there are approximately 180,000 people around the world who have brain implants.”

Lately, there was a first brain implant surgery which was approved for drug addiction. A patient is a 33-year-old man, Gerod Buckhalter, who has experienced two overdoses. He is addicted to opioid drugs since he was 18. His surgery was done by doctor Ali Rezai at the West Virginia University Medicine Hospital on 1 November. From now on for the next two years, he will be monitored to see how the implant works on his behavior.

References:

Tagged , ,
27 October 2019
2 Comments
Bez kategorii

Stalkerware – what is this?

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Stalkerware „is a monitoring software or spyware that is used for stalking”.

What does it mean?
That means that everyone can have this kind of app and see what someone else is doing. You can have access to someone’s back and front camera, localization, voice records, and screen.

How does it work? 
The only thing you have to do to have access to someone else’s life is to download the special app from a special website on a victim’s phone. 

As we can see from the graph, the number of stalkerware apps detected by Kaspersky Security has increased by almost half in 7 months.

The biggest number of users of this application was in Russia. In the second place is India and in the third – Brazil. 

According to Kaspersky’s research, the most often detected Stalkerware apps were MobileTool, iSpyoo, and Talklog.

What can show us that we are being spied on?
If you see any unusual activity on your device there might be something going on. Don’t click on any links in order not to be hacked or spied on.

How can we protect ourselves from an unwanted app?
1) Don’t leave your phone without supervision.
In this case, no one could download a spyware app on your device.
2) Don’t use your thumbprints to open your phone or laptop.
The less the technology knows about you, the safer you are.
3) Download security software.
It may help detect unwanted activities and delete it.

 

References:

  • https://www.bbc.com/news/av/technology-50175538/using-stalkerware-to-spy-on-a-colleague-s-phone?intlink_from_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.com%2Fnews%2Ftechnology&link_location=live-reporting-map
  • https://securelist.com/the-state-of-stalkerware-in-2019/93634/
  • https://securelist.com/beware-of-stalkerware/90264/
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalkerware
  • https://www.zdnet.com/article/the-ultimate-guide-to-finding-and-killing-spyware-and-stalkerware/

 

Tagged ,