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Microsoft Surface Studio: The First Microsoft PC For Creators And Artists

microsoft surface studio pc

Microsoft has finally launched what was already a rumour with many voices, its first all-in-one desktop. This all-in-one desktop is particularly aimed at content creators and professionals.

Surface Studio – A Whole Class Apart

The Redmond company has finally unveiled its bid to compete with the Apple iMac. It’s ” Surface Studio “, a all-in-one desktop computer with a large screen and high power, which falls within the premium price range.

The computer consists of two parts, a 28 inches screen and that is only 12.5 mm thick and a base containing the other components.
Microsoft Introduces Surface Studio

The  3: 2 screen is undoubtedly the most spectacular part, completely focused on “creators and professionals” in the words of Microsoft. The touch panel has a resolution of 4500×3000 pixels , superior to even the 4K TVs. In addition, it is adjustable in height to place virtually flat and has different colour configurations depending on the type of task you wish to perform (photography, video, etc.).

The Surface Studio is based on the Intel processors ranging from an i5 up to i7, and RAM configurations from 8GB up to 32GB and up to 2TB of hard drive.

The set can be completed with four accessories: keyboard, mouse, stylus and a new haptic device called ” Surface Dial“.

microsoft surface studio and surface dial

The starting price in the US for the basic configuration is $ 3,000, and up to $4,000 in more advanced configurations. Microsoft has warned of a possible shortage of units at launch.

Microsoft Surface Studio: Technical Specifications

  • 28-inch touch screen with a resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels
  • Intel Core i5 / i7
  • RAM 8GB/16GB/32GB
  • 1TB/2TB with hybrid configuration
  • GeForce 980M Graphics Card
  • Ports: Audio jack, SD slot, Mini Display Port, Ethernet, USB 3.0 (x 4)
  • Built in Aluminium
  • Price: Between 2,999 and $ 4,199

Availability and Price

Microsoft expects the new Surface Studio to be a good gift for the upcoming holiday season. This iMac competitor is put on sale in December and “in limited quantities”. From the website of Microsoft we see that the date of purchase is December 15, although they have already opened the product for pre-bookings. Here is a sneak-peak at the prices and configurations on offer:

  • Intel Core i5 configuration with 8GB RAM, 2GB GPU and storage of 1TB: $ 2,999
  • Intel Core i7 configuration with 16GB RAM, 2GB GPU and storage of 1TB: $ 3,499 
  • Intel Core i7 configuration with 32GB RAM, 4GB GPU and 2TB storage: $ 4,199

Other Mega Announcements

Microsoft has announced in the conference an updated Surface Book i7 with twice the graphics horsepower and is more powerful and efficient than before and with news that it will bring the future update of ” Windows 10 “, called “Creators Update “.

This new version of Windows, which will arrive in early 2017, will focus on improving the system for creating and sharing multimedia content, with special attention to the 3D world becoming increasingly important.

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Tech News Virtual Reality

VR Pain Relief: Can Virtual Reality Be Used For Pain Relief?

vr pain relief , pain management vr, vr pain control

Studies show that there is a possibility for pain to be relieved using Virtual reality. This is because psychology plays an important role in how we experience acute and chronic pain. This connection enables us to trick the human brain and manipulate pain controlling thoughts and feelings.

Also Read: Understanding Virtual Reality And VR Headsets

Next time you are about to go to a medical store for some painkillers, maybe you should sit back and consider playing a video game first.

Research has evidence that because psychology plays an important role in how we experience pain, it can manipulate the sensation of pain through our thoughts and feelings.

The rapid technological progress has constantly been successful in reducing stress invoked from pain and this new approach seems more promising. Since virtual reality games are built targeting maximum immersive experience, they have the potential to take our focus away from pain and escape into an unreal world.

Recently this British study as found on Royal Society Open Science has shed light on the underlying science involved in VR pain relief. This involves getting the patient immersed into a virtual environment and controlling the content to supplement pain management with this approach and we’ll likely see this developed more in the future.

Virtual Environments distract us from the pain

vr pain relief , pain management vr, vr pain control

The advances in computer graphics and gaming world has opened up expensive technologies to common people. These have always been a way to relieve stress from a busy day for both children and adults.

VR pain relief grows on the foundation laid by video games to develop immersive virtual reality experiences. These stunning experiences can be used on patients during painful procedures like dental treatment or dressing burns.

The idea behind such a procedure is that by placing us in a completely immersive virtual world, a distraction mechanism is being implemented to get us away from the painful experience.

The pain threshold is influenced by impressions

But what gives VR the power to reduce the feeling of pain? Is it the images, sounds or simply the fact that we are concentrating too much this device strapped across our eyes.

This UK study we mentioned about earlier has published in the Royal Society Open Science has provided us with clues by examining the effects of the brain’s visual and auditory sensory information about pain.

The researchers had a group of 32 adults to lower their hands into ice water (approximately 1⁰C) to see how long they could withstand it, while they played a virtual reality game.

This VR game was a racing game, in which individuals were put into a futuristic world, presented through a display mounted on the head along with noise-canceling headphones.

The researchers looked at whether the pain threshold was influenced by different amounts of sensory input. Hence they incorporated these different situations including:

  • No external sense impressions at all
  • Only the music from the game
  • Only the visual images from the game
  • Both music and pictures together

It is perhaps not surprising that the study found that the highest pain threshold was present when the visual and auditory sensory inputs were combined.

But the interesting fact is that the music and the pictures alone also boosted the pain threshold.

VR Pain Relief is innovative

vr pain relief , pain management vr, vr pain control

The study’s authors argue that the sound has a profound effect on the subjects. They suggest that it is worth exploring different sound types to achieve an even more effective pain relief.

It may also be possible to add other multi-sensory experiences, such as smell and touch to the gaming experience.

Although it is true that we cannot draw too many conclusions from a relatively small laboratory study on healthy subjects. However it is certainly undeniable that the pain experienced using the VR pain relief setup is relatively mild, controllable and less threatening than the pain being experienced by people in real situations.

It demonstrates an innovative approach that VR pain relief has a potential to manipulate various sensory input, both individually and combined to deal with pain in a better way.

Also See: 10 Incredible Things Virtual Reality Can Be Used For

Virtual reality experiments can increase knowledge of pain

From a scientific point of view, VR pain relief is all very exciting and can be used on the other side as well.

It seems that we could not only get better at pain management using virtual reality but these techniques can also helps us to better understand the multi-sensorial experience of pain.

Image Credits: worrell, bemyapp

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Gadgets Products Tech News Virtual Reality

Dexmo VR Gloves Are Dexta Robotics Initiative To Touch & Feel Objects Of Virtual World

dexmo vr gloves

Virtual reality is already among us and now the next step is to exploit all its possibilities. For this there is a need for compatible accessories. Apparently the most important thing is to extend the experience to other senses. Currently the entire focus is only on the eyes but being in a situation with free flowing eye-sight is not sufficient for truly immersive experience. So we have started to see the emergence of special gloves for virtual reality from various comapnies.

dexmo vr gloves

Dexta Robotics is a Chinese startup that for a couple of years has been experimenting with Dexmo VR Gloves. Dexmo VR Gloves are robotic devices in the form of gloves and serves to interact with the virtual worlds. After more than 20 prototypes it has reached what one that could be the final version. Unlike the other developments, this has technology that lets you realistically feel like we’re playing with virtual objects.

Dexmo VR Gloves, the sense of touch comes to virtual reality

The idea of having a glove for virtual reality is not new. There were several other projects like Manus VR, Gest but these provide a haptic response to our virtual interactions. This is similar to what happens with the controls of the HTC Vive and other accessories currently available on the market.

Dexmo goes beyond this because it is not just a glove with sensors, it is a mechanic, or exoskeleton glove, equipped with 11 degrees of freedom of movement that is capable of providing variable force feedback to each finger. With this we can hold objects within virtual worlds and feel the resistance force that apply.

According to its creators, the glove is lightweight and comfortable, so it may be used for long periods of time, it is also cordless and battery lasts for around 6 hours. Because of its wide range of use, Dexmo could serve not only for games but also in training, medicine and education. This opens up possibilities also for augmented reality and even mixed reality.

The bad news is that it does not have a price or a release date yet. This is because its creators are still refining few details of its operation. The recent opening of HTC Vive platform to third-party accessories makes it more likely that this is the first compatible system.

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Gadgets Tech News

Nvidia GTX 1050 And GTX 1050 Ti Are Latest Budget Graphic Cards Priced at $109

nvidia geforce graphic card: nvidia gtx 1050

Nvidia never stops. Its family of Pascal graphics cards , which premiered with the beast GXT 1080 continues to grow towards more affordable levels. This is another advancement to convince gamers who aspire to play without a big investment to stick with Nvidia.

The two new members of the large family are the Nvidia GTX 1050 and the GTX 1050 Ti. The difference between the two is in the CUDA cores. The Ti model comes with 768 CUDA and the GTX 1050 in 640 CUDA cores. Also  there is reduced GDDR5 memory from 4GB to 2 GB respectively.

nvidia geforce graphic card: nvidia gtx 1050

No VR support but runs at 60 fps and 1080p with a Core i5

As for the operating speed, the Nvidia GTX 1050 reaches 1455 MHz (the base is 1354 Mhz) and 1392 Ghz for Ti model. The both models come with a bandwidth of 112 GB/s.

The two new graphics cards support resolutions up to 7680 x 4320 pixels at 60 Hz, but are not ready for virtual reality or for SLI configurations

According to Nvidia, with these new cards we can play games like The Division, The Witcher 3 or GTA V at 60 fps 1080p resolution with a Core i5 as processor.

No extra power supply

A key to understanding these new Nvidia graphics is the power consumption data available online. Its TDP base is 75 W, which means that they require no external power supply and can work perfectly only with the power they receive from their PCIe connectivity.

In terms of ports, the new Nvidia GTX 1050 features DisplayPort 1.4a, HDMI 2.0 and DVI Dual Link-ports

Price and Availability

The new Nvidia GTX 1050 and GTX 1050 Ti will hit the market very soon. These can be purchased from October 25 for 109 dollars. They are available from the usual partners, including ASUS, GigaByte and MSI among others. The GTX 1050 Ti model will cost 10 dollars higher.

Also Read: NVIDIA Comes Up With The New AI SoC XAVIER

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Products Tech News

Pixel Smartwatch: Google Has Smart Watches On The Way

google pixel smartwatch
google pixel smartwatch

Google are probably ready to bet hard in the smart watch market. Their initial entry will be with two new wearable products in both Small and XL sizes.

google pixel smartwatch
google pixel smartwatch

Photo credicts: Androidpolice

Evidence suggests that Google will really jump out as an independent hardware manufacturer. After recently launching its two smartphones (Google Pixel and Google Pixel XL) by its own, now seems these two smartphones will be followed by two smartwatches with the Google brand name.

With the watches will follow the first major update of Android Wear – a version 2.0. The new control system was already shown at this year’s I/O developer conference and will including other things offer a greater degree of autonomy to the watch.

See also:Google Wi-Fi: Google Wants To Enter Our Homes With Their Attachable Routers

Your apps will be able to update and function independently – either via Wi-Fi or LTE – while your watch faces will be filled with data from all available apps.

A launch in the first quarter of 2017 is expected with the fact that Google last month announced that the Android Wear 2.0 will be postponed from late 2016 to early 2017.

Google’s possible Pixel smartwatch – First Look

google pixel smartwatch
google pixel smartwatch

Photo credicts: Androidpolice

Two Different Sizes:

The company officials did not say how the watches will look like but point that they could be leaning on a previously leaked image from Android Police, which shows a rendering of two models – a small and a large smartwatch.

The two watch devices are only renderings, and the final design may well turn out to different from what appears on the image.

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Gadgets Tech News

Exynos 7 Dual 7270 : Samsung Bets On Chip with Inbuilt LTE Connectivity

samsung exynos 7 dual 7270 chip

Samsung is facing a very difficult situation with its Galaxy Note 7. But this South Korean company is also busy with something else. As we know, Samsung has its presence in several markets of which the chip division is one of the most successful and profitable for the company. In this division precisely it is announcing its latest development. It is aimed at wearables and IoT devices and it is the Exynos 7 Dual 7270 chip.

The new Exynos 7 Dual 7270 is an interesting bet by Samsung, as it is based on the famous 14 nm FinFET process. This technique is being used in their SoC for smartphones. Now Samsung goes a step further in addressing the wearables and IoT market with a total connectivity solution that integrates its first 4G LTE modem itself.

Exynos 7 Dual 7270 with LTE

This new SoC integrates two Cortex-A53 cores, which the company says will offer energy efficiency up to 20% compared to its predecessor, manufactured under 28 nm process. This new chip will have the same power but with greater autonomy, all in a size of only 100 square millimeters and a height reduction by 30%.

The Exynos 7 Dual 7270 integrates “seamless connectivity” to have WiFi, Bluetooth, support for FM Radio, and GPS (GNSS). But the most important part is the addition of a 4G LTE Category 4 modem. This allows devices to connect devices to mobile data network without a smartphone.

This will benefit manufacturers looking to develop wearables like smartwatches and personal quantifiers. Helping them be more independent and enough to run tasks such as geolocation and mobile connection in a single component power. This will hugely benefit the design of the devices and especially capabilities of the batteries.

With this new Exynos 7 Dual 7270 Samsung immerses itself into the race by having economic, small and full connectivity processors. This race is strongly contested by Qualcomm with its Snapdragon 2100 and 1100. Bringing the next generation of wearables seems very interesting. For example Apple was one of the companies placed a SoC with LTE without increasing energy consumption in its Apple Watch. This helped the Apple Watch Series 2 to be launched without the desired mobile connection.

Also Read: Nvidia Comes Up With New AI SoC Xavier

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Tech News

6 Technology Trends of 2016 Going Mainstream Soon

top 10 technology trends

Look back 20 years into how we used to communicate. More or less the idea of communication using a device was restricted to the big wired telephones only the rich could afford. And then suddenly we are into this Information revolution which put smartphones into our hands and anyone can contact anyone from anywhere at any point of time. Here my point is what was so limited few decades back is now mainstream. However, this is going to happen many times more. Like it has happened with the agricultural revolution, the industrial revolution and with the Information revolution. This article focuses on technology trends making their baby steps currently and have the potential to become mainstream soon.

1.The virtual reality promises a different world:

top 10 technology

image credits :Vrone

After many years of waiting and eternal promises, finally the users can choose from several models of VR Headsets for full immersion. 2015 was the year companies like Samsung started bringing these technology trends to market with the Gear VR, overtaking competition bragging for years with their pilot projects. And it so happens to be that 2016 is consolidation year for this technology in different fields.

At least, it will be the first year where consumers can experience total immersion from headsets of different manufacturers. Thus, the already known and marketed Samsung devices will join those of Oculos Rift, Sony and HTC and Valve. The first one just announced that its virtual reality system goes on sale for $ 600. On the other hand, the Japanese company has recently released its earlier codenamed ‘Morpheus’, Playstation VR into the market.

Also Read: Google Daydream View VR Headsets are here

Although currently entertainment is the most attention and interest grabbing at the beginning, these technology trends also brings with it many applications in the worlds of education, marketing or health.

2. Goodbye to cash and cards

top 10 technology trends

Image credits: business2community

Samsung, Apple and Google have launched and are constantly developing their systems to enable mobile pay with the guarantees of security. The growing power of the mobile device against any other payment will push mobile payments to mainstream soon. It is currently one of the priorities of the tech industry.

The South Korean firms have already launched intuitive software to accept such payments. The simplicity is quite surprising too. Coupling it along with universality will be effective in any establishment currently using credit card for payments.

3. 5G Progress to multiply bandwidth

Top 10 technology trends

Image credits: merinews

Ericsson, Huawei and other networking vendors are working overtime to make 5G a reality by 2018. Although there is a lot of 5G discussions, implementation of this technology will be such a qualitative leap that 2016 is too early for its implementation.

Globally mobile networks are working together to bring this Next Generation Mobile Network standardisation to devices. This new supersonic speed broadband will allow the actual development of the Internet of Things (IoT) in which 50,000 million devices will be interconnected and sending information.

4. Mobile, absolute king leisure and business

 

top 10 technology trends

Image credits:runrun

In no time, you will no longer miss any program in the smartphone that works with the PC. Every month, the number of minutes dedicated to smartphones are increasing at the expense of time we spend in front of the computer screen.

Mobile devices are winning the battle to the desktops. We can say that the newer operating systems are being designed for both mobile and computer use. So all the programs work with the same ease on the phone to the computer.

Windows in particular has done a good job with Windows 10 bringing it to all platforms. It is true that, for now, Windows is only present in 3% of the phones, but the giant once founded by Bill Gates is confident that its growth will be exponential as users discover the power and possibilities that Windows 10 offers in the palm of your hand. In fact, its executives have set a goal to reach  more than one billion smartphone sales worldwide just three years.

5. More driver-less vehicles

top 10 technology trends

Image credits:tctechcrunch

Perhaps the current laws prevent vehicles driving by themselves but the race for that autonomy is achieving significant improvements in safety. It is something that has become very clear in the latest edition of CES in Las Vegas. The keynote address by the chairman of an automobile company Volkswagen, Herberd Diess showcases just that.

Among all these automakers General Motors, BMW, Audi, Fiat Chrysler, Ford, Hyundai, Mercedes, Toyota and Volkswagen- accounted for a quarter of the exhibition area. This sector is also now concentrating on gradually abandoning fossil fuels and focussing on electric and hybrid power.

As has also become very clear in the past CES, the software will be the main differentiating factor between those cars of the future.

6. Second generation apps in wearables

top 10 technology trends

Image credits:androidauthority

The wearables technology trends will be consolidated in this year 2016. This will be so by improving the hardware and, above all, by the arrival of a second generation of applications that provide a real differential value for the user.

It is no coincidence that virtually all manufacturers of smartphones has in its catalog a smart watch. In fact, consumers are also interested in acquiring a SmartBand or a smartwatch to keep track of their health. Besides applications for measuring health and sport -the most popular wearables so far – also come with other productivity apps.

Thus, based on the benefits that can be achieved with these technology trends there is lot of progress in this area.

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Gadgets Tech News

Google Pixel and Pixel XL: Getting To Know The ‘Phone By Google’

Google Pixel and Google Pixel XL Sizes: Phone By Google

Google has at last presented its two new smartphones. With these two new smartphones Google aims to compete with Apple and its iPhone 7 on the market. In this article you get to know about the ‘made by google’ smartphones. These are the features, price and release date of the new Google Pixel and the Google Pixel XL.

Google Pixel: The compact option

The Google Pixel is the most compact smartphone of the two launched by the company. Its screen has dimensions of 5 inches and a full HD resolution of 1,920 x 1,080 pixels. This seems more than enough for a phone with a screen this size. No Quad HD in this model, but the resolution will be more than sufficient for a phone with such a small screen. Of course, being a smaller smartphone, with a smaller screen, the power consumption is lower, and the battery is only 2,770 mAh. The dimensions of this release are 143.8 x 69.5 in x 8.6 mm, with a weight of 143 grams.

Google Pixel and Google Pixel XL Sizes: Phone By Google

Google Pixel XL, the big flagship

Although not very different, the Google Pixel XL comes betting on a higher size with a 5.5 – inch screen. It features a Quad HD screen with 2,560 x 1,440 pixels resolution. Also, its battery has superior capacity of 3,450 mAh to provide autonomy for the smartphone to power the larger screen. As the dimensions of the smartphone are concerned, we have a size of 154.7 x 75.7 x 8.6 mm. The weight of this version is 168 grams.

High level performance

The two smartphones have the same technical characteristics. Since we can not expect otherwise, the new Google Pixel and Google Pixel XL can boast of having higher performance by including the most current Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor with four cores, and capable of a frequency of 2.15 GHz clock. Meanwhile, its RAM is 4GB, and the smartphone is available in two versions, with 32GB memory and 128GB, and can’t be extended using microSD. In any case, more memory is not necessary because we have unlimited cloud space.

Google Pixel and Google Pixel XL Specs: Phone By Google

Unlimited Space

The most deals in our smartphone are the photos and videos. And with cameras every time we find more quality videos and photos that increasingly take up more space. What is the solution? SD Cards? They could be. However, it is not the case with the Google Pixel, because they do not have the ability to expand the memory via a microSD card. So? Google offers us unlimited space in the cloud to sync photos and videos automatically, and most importantly, in their original quality, which will certainly be very positive for all users.

The best mobile camera

Google Pixel and Google Pixel XL Camera: Phone By Google

Each time a new mobile is launched, it is said to have the best camera on the market. However, in this case, yes, we are talking about something real. The Google Pixel has the best camera of all mobile market. DxOMark, who have analyzed the smartphone, gave a score of 89 surpassing the iPhone 7. Three main points have contributed to this 12.3 – megapixel camera that is included in the smartphone. Good optimization between camera and processor to manage the photos in the best way possible, and to capture photos burst and HDR +. Besides all that, the mobile is capable of recording video in 4K, and has a image stabilization not found in other phones (all this has been achieved without a dual camera).

Sleek and Elegant Design

Google Pixel and Google Pixel XL Camera: Phone By Google

With a thickness of 8.6 mm, the Google Pixel is a fine smartphone in its two versions. Obviously, one of them is bigger than the other, being one of superior size. However, Google Pixel can boast a sober and elegant design. Actually we only see the Google logo on the back, and nothing else. The smartphone is made up of aluminium casing. And without forgetting has a very characteristic appearance, with a plastic section found around the camera.

These smartphone comes in three versions, one is silver, another is a version of black color, and other special limited version of dark blue color.

Availability and Pricing

Google Pixel and Google Pixel XL Models: Phone By Google

Regarding the release date and availability of Google Pixel, I must say that these phones are not particularly cheap. They will be available to book from today in English-speaking countries like the US, UK, Australia and Canada and will come to India on October 13. In any case, its price of $ 650, but probably the biggest version will be more expensive, as well as versions with an internal memory of more capacity.

Anyways, the arrival of the Google Pixel and Google Pixel XL are announced with the Google Assistant, which promises to be far better than existing assistants with leap in Machine Learning and AI capabilities.