The newly released version of Adobe FlashPlayer offers an attractive user experience coupled with stacks of features. Users may now enjoy an improved digital experience available across numerous platforms and browsers for viewing Internet applications consisting of rich and vibrant content.  The new version offers runtime on Mac OS and Windows desktops. Google’s Chrome browser previously has a built-in Adobe Flash Player and, as always, will automatically update when newer versions of Flash Player become available.

As this release is only a beta version, it is prudent not to download the application for critical work, as the technology has not yet been finalised. So, before you install this version, it is most important that you uninstall previous versions of Adobe Flash Player.

The Adobe FlashPlayer 13 version offers high quality content for the computer user. It is a key element in today’s Internet use and, as previously mentioned, it is able to function on all operating systems and browsers as well as on portable devices, like smartphones and tablets. Though there is no apparent interface, users are able to access small windows, where they can create a set of expandable options, such as hardware acceleration and the ability to set privacy preferences, so that they can get improved experience.

The new version (Adobe Flash Player 13) offers the user a better streaming experience for HD content that is of the highest quality. It will now be able to play HD videos smoothly in your browser’s window, with no issues.

Current devices and computers will effortlessly be able to exceed the hardware requirements that are required of Adobe Flash Player 13. However, some older workstations may experience some difficulty while accessing sites that are exclusively constructed using Flash. However, on nearly all modern devices, the runtime application is capable of bringing the highest quality content to your computer, without any interaction at all.  This software is a ‘must have’ client runtime that everybody should have on his or her computer. This new version offers the user an extended enhancement by delivering expressive content to the desktop as well as smartphones, tablets, notebooks and netbooks.

Adobe Flash Player 13 offers support for mobile capabilities, such as support for multi touch and gestures as well as mobile input. HD video content is delivered with very small disbursement on mobile devices as well as on PCs. Developers may take advantage of the newest version to discover new ways of delivering rich media content.

The minimum system requirements for the new version are; 2.33 GHz x 86 compatible processor. (Intel Atom 1.6 GHz processor for a netbook). RAM 512 MB, (1 GB is recommended for netbooks). The graphics memory required is 128 MB.

Many people are focussing on the smartphone and tablet manufactures at MWC 2014. Other firms are there to present their technology, which actually powers those latest, must have gadgets. One such company, that is always a smart move to keep an eye on, is Intel–and they rarely disappoint people. This year they have come, packing some new and innovative processors.  Intel announced two new Atom processors: the Merrifield and the Moorefield.

The 64-bit Atom Z3480, codename ‘Merrifield’, is a dual-core chip running at 2.13GHz. Using Intel’s 22nm Silvermont architecture, the processor includes an Intel XMM 7160 LTE chip and a PowerVR Series 6 graphics core. Z3480 equipped devices should start shipping during the second quarter, Intel has said.

Also, along with the new chips, Intel announced a partnership with McAfee to help provide protection against the ever present and insidious malware attacks on Android based devices.  The Intel Device Protection Technology (Intel DPT) will give business enterprise users the facility of separating personal and corporate data on Intel-based Android OS devices.

So all in all, a good exhibit from Intel at the event.  Let’s hope the processors perform as expected.

please leave your comments in the section below.

Google Play Store update 4.6.16 brings new options

A new version of Google Play is currently updating to version 4.6.16. The update isn’t major but it does include a few nice tweaks.

There isn’t an official changelog yet, but so far this is what we have noticed:

• Settings and Help menus have moved into the side navigation menu.
• There is a new option in Settings that you can set to require passwords for all purchases.
• The “Auto-add widgets” option has been changed to “Add icon to Home screen.”
• You can force check for updates of Google Play by going into Settings and tapping on the build version.
• Batch multi-select installs from the “All” page in My Apps.
• If you remove an app from the “All” list, it no longer jumps to the top.

The update will take a few days for everyone to receive but if you’re willing to sideload the APK then you can download it here.

It’s nice to see Google adding more of these features that really should have been rolled out a while ago, nonetheless we welcome these changes.

Source: android central

Elizabeth Holmes was a student at Stanford University, who had a vision to re-invent how taking and testing blood is carried out. She founded a company named Theranos and now, a decade later, has achieved her aim of making phlebotomy more efficient and cost effective.

Theranos has developed a way to radically change how blood is drawn and then tested. Instead of one vial of blood being taken for every necessary test, Holmes’ solution needs only a pinprick  and a drop of blood. From this tiny amount, hundreds of tests can be done; everything from cholesterol tests to complex genetic examinations.

The idea stems from Holmes’ fear of needles and a desire to improve the health care system. She explains how often, diagnosis can come too late and something more could have been done if only tests were done sooner and more efficiently.

Elizabeth Holmes founded Theranos after dropping out of Stanford University

This new method has resulted in tests that are faster, more accurate and significantly cheaper than traditional methods. This has big implications for the medical field, including the possibility of winning the fight against major medical problems such as cancer and heart disease.

In order to keep test results accurate Theranos uses only automated devices to process the blood so no human is involved. Holmes explains that 93 percent of error comes from pre-analytic processing, in other words where humans physically handle things.

Theranos introduced its new blood-testing methods in a Walgreens pharmacy in Palo Alto, California last year but the plan is to now roll out the service to other centres. The company outlines its pricing on its website and plan to charge less than 50 percent of the usual Medicare and Mediaid reimbursement costs.

Astronomers Discovers ‘Deadly Star’

Astronomers have claimed that vast O-type stars are littered across the galaxy destroying young planets before they have had time to form.  A research team from US and Canadian are using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) to discover that massive quantities of ultraviolet radiation from stars 16-times the mass of our own Sun can destroy the raw materials for fresh planetary systems.

The researchers were tracking stars and protostars in the Orion Nebula when they found that any protostars within 0.1 light years (approx 600bn miles) of an O-type star would have their raw material wiped out by the radiation before it even had a chance to cluster together.  Astronomer Rita Mann explained the situation, “Using ALMA, we looked at dozens of embryonic stars with planet-forming potential and, for the first time, found clear indications where protoplanetary disks simply vanished under the intense glow of a neighbouring massive star”

Scientist estimate that it takes millions of years for gases and stellar dust to begin to combine into something denser and over further time, form into planets. The raw materials in these pre-clusters are believed to come from the explosions of massive stars going supernova.  James Di Francesco, National Research Council of Canada said, “Massive stars are hot and hundreds of times more luminous than our Sun. Their energetic photons can quickly deplete a nearby protoplanetary disk by heating up its gas, breaking it up, and sweeping it away.”

Telescopes such as Hubble have previously allowed astronomers to view very young protostars, (known as proplyds) in Orion; they have lacked the skill to recognize how much mass each one had. But using ALMA meant researcher teams could look inside these forms, to reveal what dust was contained within them.  The team says that with future investigations they will hopefully indicate how ‘common’ solar systems such as our own are.  Who knows? Maybe there are a couple of ‘Sith’ trying to control star systems?

Android To Tizen App Converter

The first Tizen phones may still be on the horizon, but at least one
software provider is already planning ahead. Infraware Technology
debuted software that can port Android apps to the Tizen mobile OS
without additional development or customization. Both Android and Tizen
are based on Linux, of course, but that doesn't mean their native apps
are compatible.

For developers, the result is a way to save the time and costs that would be associated with developing Tizen apps natively, Infraware said. Targeting such developers, Infraware offers to publish the resulting apps in the Tizen app store.

PAG has already successfully ported games including the Angry Bird series, Counter Terrorist,Fruit Slice and Drag Racing, said Infraware, which claims that the software can port between 80 percent and 90 percent of Android apps without the need for recompiling.

The software supports Android-to-Windows app conversion as well.



From app developers to device makers for wearables, we saw real interest in Tizen, both as a platform to develop for and as a springboard to develop new things,

Brian Warner, senior member services manager for Linux Foundation Collaboration Projects,



In the mobile space, "we've seen a lot of interest in tools that easily allow cross-platform development," he added. "In some cases, this means middleware SDKs that deploy apps directly for Tizen, among others, and in others it's tools that streamline porting of already-developed apps like the Polaris App Generator.


"All of these tools are welcome additions to the Tizen ecosystem, because when it comes to populating an app store, one size certainly doesn't fit all," Warner said.





The idea of having a solution to help port apps from one platform to another isn't new, but this particular offering is notable for the fact that there aren't yet any Tizen phones available, Tuong Huy Nguyen, principal research analyst for Gartner, told LinuxInsider.





Then, too, there's the fact that "porting is not as clean as some solution providers may lead you to believe," he noted. "It's not a perfect experience, especially as compared with building the app for the platform itself."



Of course, whether that native-development effort would be justified will depend first and foremost on Tizen's potential.

It may not be an apples-to-apples comparison, but Firefox OS is another newcomer to the mobile space, and it offers "a more Web-based platform with possibly more opportunity," Nguyen said.

Tizen has announced a few hardware vendors, but "it's more indicative of interest than a commitment to launch phones immediately," he concluded.

The Challenge

"We've danced this dance before," agreed IDC Research Director Ramon Llamas. "BlackBerry did it, Nokia is doing it now with the Nokia X.

"If Infraware is going to do it, I have to question how robust is that experience going to be?" he added. "Of the roughly millions of apps available on Android, how many will work seamlessly on Tizen? Will it have a success rate of 100 percent? 90 percent? If not all -- or a vast majority -- there's a challenge there."

In the long term, "I have to take a wait-and-see approach," Llamas concluded. "I think this is a great idea conceptually, tapping into the huge Android app portfolio. The question is, how well are you able to do that?

And you thought all that talk about the “One Ring” was just fantasy straight out of those Lord Of The Rings movies. Well, it turns out there is a ring(s) out there that can control almost everything in your home. As of this writing, though, it doesn’t appear it will allow you to become invisible upon sliding it on your finger. But it will let you do almost everything else with just a swipe of your ring finger.

Of all of the devices on Kickstarter, the Ring seems to stand out the most right now. And, with such a simple and straightforward title, it needs to stand out. While it may not let you bend the will of your friends and families to your own, it promises to let you control most all of the smart devices in your life.

The Ring To Rule Them All

It’s almost impossible to believe, but the makers of the Ring claim that you can pay bills, send text messages, control home appliances, play music, etc., all by making a certain gesture with your ring finger. Once you link the Ring to a smart device (read: smart TV, smartphone, smartwatch, etc.) you can control it. For example, if you want music to start playing, you would point the ring, draw a treble clef into the air, and your music would soon fill the air. Or, if you want to send a text message, you would literally spell it out into the air and the connected device would recognize the letters. You can even use the Ring to dim the lamp in the corner of the living room. Last, but certainly not least, the Ring offers certain vibrations to alert you when you have a notification from Facebook, etc.

What can’t the Ring do?  it won’t help you conquer Middle Earth; you could use it to turn on menacing songs from the LOTR soundtrack, though.

The Ring has already met and exceeded its original Kickstarter goal of $250,000 and it still has 23 days to go in its crowd-funding campaign. If you make an early pledge now of $165 you can get your hands on one of the Rings before they ship out to the public.

SOURCE: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1761670738/ring-shortcut-everything?ref=discovery

Shrinking Gel That Repairs Teeth

Following an examination of embryonic development, scientists have made an advancement in tissue engineering. Scientists from the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have been able to develop a new gel-based material, which they say can allow stem cells to repair damaged caused to bones and teeth. What is truly noteworthy is that the gel is able to shrink and effectively copies the physical conditions that occur when  tissue forms naturally.

In developing this gel the scientists took in to account the process known as mesenchymal condensation, which is a critical transitional stage that precedes cartilage formation during embryonic development. Mesenchymal cells, which are a type of stem cell, develop in to mature cells such as bone and enamel.

At SEAS the scientists simulated the compression that mesenchymal cells normally experience during the mesenchymal condensation process. They used a modified form of PNIPAAm polymer as the base of the gel so that it contracted at body temperature. The loose form of the gel was filled with mesenchymal cells and then as the gel was warmed, they were compressed, resulting in a differentiation of cell types and new tissue was formed.

Getting human cells to form in to 3D structures in a lab environment has been a real problem for tissue engineers but this bio-inspired gel could be a big step in helping them understand and overcome the problems.

“Tissue engineers have long raised the idea of using synthetic materials to mimic the inductive power of the embryo,” said senior author Don Ingber, founding director of the Wyss Institute, Judah Folkman Professor of Vascular Biology at Harvard Medical School, and Professor of Bioengineering at SEAS. “We’re excited about this work because it shows that it really is possible.”

The next step for the scientists is to test the gel with layers of mesenchymal cells and epithlial cells to see if they can form a full tooth. If successful, this coulld lead to the development of other tissue types.

There are a lot of people out there who don’t want to get the flu shot. I get it. While some people don’t believe in the vaccine because they don’t believe in vaccinations, there are some out there who most likely would get the shot if it didn’t come attached with a big fear – I’m talking about the needle, of course. I don’t need to convince you, but there are many people out there who would rather be infected with the flu than injected with the flu vaccine. There is, of course, the nasal mist version of the vaccine, but not everyone is able to take that one due to different allergies, etc.

Since the flu is still a big health concern in the world today, most doctors want to do everything they can to encourage people to get the flu vaccine, and they understand that many people are simply afraid of needles. So researchers are doing everything they can to make it easier and more comfortable than ever to get a flu vaccine. What are they wanting to do? They’re wanting to give you a tiny vaccine patch you can take home and apply to your arm in the comfort of your own home. And the best part of all? It’s supposedly painless.

Give Yourself A Flu Vaccine

As you can clearly see in the image , these “microneedle patches” are just that – micro. In fact, they only measure about 7/10th of a millimeter, and researchers have been hard at work creating them to be able to dissolve into the skin. Theoretically, all a person would have to do is apply the patch to their arm, and it would dissolve fairly quickly into their skin, allowing the vaccine to quickly reach the blood stream and travel everywhere it needs to go.

Apparently, the CDC is becoming fond of this idea, and we could most likely see these vaccine patches becoming a reality within the next 5 years.

I don’t know about you, but I think it sure beats a trip to the doctor’s office or the pharmacy. What do you think?

Nokia explain the Windows Phone App Situation

Nokia Canada have published a pretty interesting video explaining the app situation across the platforms from Android, iOS and Windows Phone detailing that bigger numbers aren’t always better, like thousands of flashlight apps in the stores.

The video explains that although Windows Phone might not have the most applications, the big ones are on board, as well as some exclusive only on the Microsoft platform, check out the video below.

Does the App situation still plague Windows Phone? I’d like to think not but speaking with people on a daily basis they still think that Windows Phone has a lack of truly good apps, hopefully these sort of videos will help educate more people around the progress of Windows Phone and its selection of applications.

Source: Nokia Canada on YouTube

Will Titanfall' fire up Xbox One sales?

Microsoft Corp is betting on making sci-fi combat game "Titanfall" a hit big enough to boost sales of its Xbox One videogame device, helping it catch up in terms of sales with rival Sony Corp's PlayStation 4 console.

the $60 game allows players to go toe-to-toe as soldiers, or take control of giant robots in a war-torn urban setting.

"We're making a big bet that 'Titanfall' is going to be a blockbuster launch for Xbox," Yusuf Mehdi, head of marketing and strategy for Microsoft's Xbox group, said in an email interview.

As part of its "Titanfall" campaign, Microsoft will also promote the game at South by Southwest, the annual gathering of tech industry experts, filmmakers and musicians  in Austin, Texas. Developed by Respawn Entertainment and published by Electronic Arts, the game will be made available for the older Xbox 360 consoles on March 25.

Microsoft is locked in a console battle with Japan's Sony, which announced last week it had sold 6 million PlayStation 4 units as of March 2. The device beat the Xbox One to become the top-selling console in the United States in January, according market research firm NPD Group.

Both the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 launched in November last year. Microsoft has not provided an update on sales since January, when it said Xbox One sales crossed three million units as of the end of 2013.

Priced $100 more than the $399 PlayStation 4, the Xbox One is seemingly trailing behind in sales. In February, Microsoft announced an Xbox One and "Titanfall" bundle for $499, effectively offering the game for free.

With the launch of "Titanfall" much anticipated, the games industry is watching to see if the title can replicate the "Halo" effect. Released exclusively for the Xbox back in 2001, "Halo" - another sci-fi shooter game - became a blockbuster franchise, fuelling sales of Xbox consoles.

"We don't have a sales forecast for the game to share, but we expect it to be big for us," Mehdi said.

One of the reasons a lot of mobile users avoid the likes of the Windows Phone platform is the lack of some big name app titles compared to the likes of the Android and iOS platforms. Things are changing for the better though as the FIFA 14 Windows Phone release is now available to download.

The FIFA 14 game title was released for both the Android and iOS platforms back in September of last year, and now it has finally been released for the Windows Phone OS as a free download. The game features over 16,000 real players from 600 officially licensed teams.

Unlike previous FIFA titles this one is taking the freemium route so users will have to part with some cash to unlock certain features of the game. There have been new touchscreen controls developed for the game to make use of those improving displays on the platform, and there are now commentaries in English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish.

Users can create their own fantasy teams by buying and selling players while choosing their own style of play, kits, and much more. You can also take part in tournaments to gain coins so they can be spent on that new star signing to improve your team.

With more big name apps joining the platform along with the ever increasing choice of hardware the Windows Phone platform will increase further in 2014. Hit the Windows Phone Store here to download FIFA 14.

Scientist Are A Step Closer To Liquid Metal Terminator Robots

In the film Terminator 2, the T-1000 was made from a liquid metal that could change into any shape it wanted. Although this may seem far-fetched for a real robot, researchers think they have  found a way to manipulate liquid metal, achieving the beginnings of what we see in the film.

Normally liquid metal is associated with the toxic element mercury, which means it is a definite no-no for making a robot out of it. However Lei Sheng, Jie Zhang and Jing Liu at the Tsinghua University in Beijing have employed the use of a gallium-indium-selenium alloy, which at room temperature exists in a liquid state. It has a melting point of only 50 degrees fahrenheit.

The research team were able to move the alloy around in its liquid form by putting it in water and applying voltage.By controlling the direction and intensity of the current, they successfully produced tiny liquid metal spheres on the surface of a water droplet. These metal droplets could then be moved or even merged with other droplets by changing the voltage source to different locations.

With further study the researchers hope to discover what conditions and voltages produce which shapes and movements. With this information it would then be possible to create simple machines and because the gallium-indium-selenium alloy is bioneutral, any machine created could be applied in a medical situation.

We are still a long way off the T-1000 but the technology is one step closer at least.   Hasta la vista, baby

Electronic Membrane Designed To Keep Your Heart Beating Forever

“My heart will go on, and on..” I can hear Celine Dion now.  And soon, your heart may be able to go on and on as well, thanks to a revolutionary electronic membrane designed to keep your heart rate beating perfectly.  The membrane is made from a  thin, circuit-lined stretchable material that has been developed at the University of Illinois and Washington University by scientists.  This technology may be available for human hearts in 10 to 15 years.

Trying To Archive Immortality

At this point, only rabbits can have a perfectly beating heart.  Scientists custom-made the membrane to exactly fit the shape of a particular rabbit’s heart.  In order to do this, they followed two procedures.  Firstly, they scanned the rabbit’s heart while it was still alive and created a 3D model using computer aided tomography (sectional images through penetrating waves). Secondly, using a 3D printer, they assembled the model which they then used as a mould to design the membrane. Once the membrane was created, they took the heart out of the rabbit, put the membrane on it and kept it beating at its perfect pace.

John Rorgers, materials researcher at the University of Illinois, stated that this technology is just like the natural membrane that is already on the heart, not just a pacemaker.  However, this artificial pericardium is equipped with high quality, man-made technology that can sense and communicate with the heart in ways that are relevant to clinical cardiology.  Igor Efimov, Washington University’s biomedical engineer, says that this is a big advancement.  The circuits are a combination of sensors that continuously track the tissues’ way of behaving and electrodes that exactly control the heart muscles’ movement:

If the heart were to suffer a heart attack, the membrane can apply therapy.  It can apply stimuli that can stop sudden cardiac death. What an amazing feat!!

Cyber security specialist, Kaspersky Labs, have just announced ‘Safe Browser’ for Windows Phone.  Kaspersky announced the launch at MWC.  The browser is an alternative to Internet Explorer, which protects against phishing attacks.  It does this by automatically blocking dangerous links.

The browser is available now on the Windows Phone Store as a free download. This release follows the previous issues of Safe Browser for iOS in 2013 and the Kaspersky Internet Security for Android that was released in January of this year.

Victor Yablokov, head of Mobile Product Line at Kaspersky Lab, said,“Smartphones are becoming an essential part of modern life and the web browser is one of the most popular features…However, even the most tech-savvy web user may sometimes struggle to distinguish fake sites from the real thing. Now, Kaspersky Safe Browser for Windows Phone is here to help, providing automatic protection against fraudulent and inappropriate sites like,   www.aliexpress.com  or   www.alibaba.com   which many has suffered from fraudulent acts from most of the Chinese online sellers in hong kong, especially a notorious guy called simon huang.

Phishing is a technique that attempts to acquire information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details by pretending to be a trustworthy website. The most recent survery undertaken by Kaspersky and B2B International, showed that in the past year one in three Internet users has received messages with phishing links.

Kaspersky has developed the ‘Safe Browser’ to help fix this growing issue.  The browser is an alternative, which prevents access to potentially harmful content. Although the design is simplified, user reviews rate it higher than Microsoft’s native app.

The application works by receiving information regarding malicious sites in real-time from Kaspersky’s Security Network database.  The browser is then able to block those phishing pages that have just appeared in the database.

Kaspersky launched another product at this year’s MWC.  The company unveiled their new Fraud Prevention platform, which consists of an array of tools.  The platform is aimed at firms within the e-commerce sector, banks and financial organisations.

If you have any sensible comments regarding this story, please leave your comments in the section below.

iPhone Fingerprint Scanner Update coming soon

Those guys over at AppleInsider have learned that the Cupertino collective is preparing to release a software update that is designed to develop the fingerprint recognition of their Touch ID.  This fix will potentially solve a “fade” issue, which has been experienced by a number of iPhone 5’s users.

Apparently, a source that is familiar with Apple‘s development plans has said the company is cognizant of early adopter issues that many users of the fingerprint recognition feature in the iPhone 5s are experiencing.

After the iPhone 5s launch last year, Apple has continued to work along with the original AuthenTec team in order to develop its recognition software and they will release an update quite soon, the source confidently reported.  Unfortunately, AppleInsider was unable to verify whether the update will ship as part of iOS 7.1, which incidentally, is due in the next few weeks.

There have been a number of people who have reported what has come to be known as “AuthenTec Fade,” or an intermittent recognition failure, which occurs a few months after their first configuration setup.  Even if the fingerprint recognition feature is re-calibrated and the user’s fingerprint rescanned, the issue returns after a few weeks.

There have been a number of reported workarounds for the scanner to be fooled.  One way is to scan your most commonly used finger multiple times, as separate fingers, assuming the system can recognize the scanned print on the first attempt.

There are some issues with the fingerprint recognition system that Apple simply cannot solve; including the major concern amongst some, that if the finger tissue is damaged, the scanner would render a fingerprint completely unreadable.  There are some improvements, which the company can deliver, which is what will be made available in a software update coming soon.  Whether that update will be part of iOS7.1 remains to be seen.