Evolution continues ...

Air driven cars 

We had earlier written of the flying and sailing cars, one of the greatest innovations happening in the motor industry. Today, we are looking at cars that can drive themselves, a possible venture that could in the near future replace what we have already.

Inasmuch as all these innovations are being done, others elsewhere seek to develop an alternative fuel for the cars. Fuel is a global issue as we tend to spend more than we can produce not forgetting the effects it causes to the environment.

Electricity and hydrogen have been discovered as alternatives to fossil fuels which are in use in all parts of the world. The cars are considered environment friendly and are a solution to global warming resulting from combustion of fuels in vehicles.

The hydrogen-powered cars are gaining a lot of popularity in some countries like the United States of America. They are considered cleaner than the conventional cars and would be the solution to air pollution in the cities. Hydrogen-powered cars rely on a fuel cell that takes oxygen from the air and combines it with hydrogen from a tank to create electricity. The electricity is used to power electric motors which turn the car wheels. As such, hydrogen-powered cars can be seen as electric vehicles that are not held back by the limited range of batteries.

These cars use the hydrogen fuel cell technology which was first developed in 1839. The cells were mostly used for back-up of power and in remote places that are inaccessible to the national grid. They have however been adopted by motor industry and are being used to power vehicles.

A fuel cell combines hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity, heat, and water. Fuel cells are often compared to batteries. Both convert the energy produced by a chemical reaction into usable electric power. However, the fuel cell will produce electricity as long as fuel (hydrogen) is supplied, never losing its charge.

Different car makers are optimistic about the technology and are endorsing producing this type of cars. General Motors surprised observers when the company presented a fifth-generation fuel cells. Compared to fourth-generation fuel cells, the weight of the entire unit has been reduced by 100 kilograms, while the unit takes up 50% less space (and is thus comparable to a four-cylinder petrol engine). Similar advances are being made by Daimler, Toyota, Honda, Nissan and Hyundai, with Ford and Volkswagen following in their tracks.

The cars can only be filled in a hydrogen station. The stations are normally set at the highways. The hydrogen fuel dispensers dispense the fuel by the kilogram.

The fuel cell cars are better preferred than the electric cars which over a long range will need a lot of batteries. The fuel cells spew out nothing more noxious than water making them even friendlier to the environment.

More reason to get a laptop

In the beginning, a laptop was viewed as the best alternative to personal computers. The convenience of a laptop is the key thing that makes it the choice of many. You can carry it to wherever and still work. Consumers have however gotten used to this and now want more than just convenience in portability.

The makers seem to be listening and are doing very well even as their main target is to make sales. The laptops have seized to be just a portable computer to a super fast working gadget and now it’s a gadget to floss with considering the design of it and what you can do with it. The size of them is also a key point of competition for the makers as well as the features.

Other than speed and memory size which many consider before buying a laptop, manufacturers are giving the consumers another thing to consider, the design! At first, laptops were just  rectangular shaped and you just flipped one side to.Today,there’s more to that. Companies are coming up with different designs for the hardware, another reason you want to get a laptop.

Hewlett-Packard, the world's largest tech company by sales, has its most portable device - the HP Envy x2- with a design in which its 27.9cm screen can attach to a keyboard dock, using magnets to guide both parts into place. The model distinguishes itself from earlier designs by featuring an 8 megapixel camera on the back of the screen allowing it to be used as a camera and the inclusion of near field communication (NFC) technology to allow users to easily share photos, contacts and other content with each other.

HP's two other models both feature touch screens built into a traditional laptop design.

By contrast Toshiba's Satellite U925t features a screen that can slide over its keyboard. The computer features a bigger 31.8cm display than has been traditional with this format.

Dell's XPS Duo 12 takes another approach, allowing its screen to pivot around its bezel. Once the user has spun it around the laptop can be closed leaving the display face-up, ready for use.

The approach by the manufacturers is now to make the machines suitable for both productivity and fun in-putting a lot of creativity in making them.You no longer want to own a laptop just because its a laptop but also for the creativity displayed in its design.Another reason you want to get a laptop!

New tracking technology

GPS is what most people in these times of technology use for tracking their way through the city or anywhere not so familiar with them.GPS has however found a challenger who seems to offer what GPS is unable to offer, Locata.

While GPS uses satellite signals to locate, the new positioning technology by Locata uses ground-based radio transmitters to send radio signals over a certain area. This signal is reportedly a million times stronger than a GPS signal.

While GPS mainly gives outdoor locations, Locata's ground tech is tackling indoor locations,locata’s receivers can be small enough to fit inside a cell phone, so if for example shoppers are lost in a large mall, they can use Locata on their smartphone to find a certain area.

Locata's technology could bring the resolution as far down as 5 centimeters in the future, making location pinpoints even more precise.Its signal is much stronger because solid objects like GPS signals don’t block it as easily. However, Locata could still use some help in urban settings with many buildings packed so closely together.

Locata's transmitters broadcast signals over the 2.4GHz radio channel, an openly available frequency used by Wi-Fi, baby monitors, and other technology. A surveyor must precisely locate each transmitter, but once that's done, the transmitter broadcasts its location information so a device can use it for locating itself.

However,Locata's technology is designed to supplement GPS, not replace it. If a device already knows its location but GPS stops working, Locata can take over in an instant.

“Spoken web” technology could come in handy for Kenya

The country is on a mission to drum up technology and spread it through. This can be traced in the efforts by the government to invest more in the field. The latest is the techno city, Konza whose works were launched earlier this year.
 
The country however faces illiteracy problems where a large number of Kenyans remain unfamiliar with how to read or write. Technology today demands that users know how to read and write to be able to use it effectively. This however can seize to be a problem thanks to an innovation by IBM’s Indian team in a quest to reach the illiterate via the internet who came up with “spoken web”.
 
The basic principle of Spoken Web lies in creating a system analogous to the World Wide Web using a technology most of us all have in common - speech. Spoken Web helps people create voice sites using a simple telephone, mobile or landline. The user gets a unique phone number which is analogous to a URL and when other users access this voice site they get to hear the content uploaded there. Interestingly, all these voice sites can be interlinked creating a massive network, which can work like the World Wide Web.
 
IBM launched this concept in early 2011.The new “digital government” has it in their manifesto to provide laptops to children in lower learning institutions, this technology could come in handy.
Other possible applications for the Spoken Web technology include access to the Web for the disabled, or people who are injured, or when driving a car.

Interactive ATMs, the future of banking

Bid that bank queue good bye
 
A bank is a human creation for man to safely store money and retrieve it at their own pleasure not forgetting other financial expertise offered. The sad news is that we’ve become enemies of our own. Your money is not safe with you anymore. The bank is our safest alternative to turn to, and so we thought. But is it the safest really?
 
The banking sector has and continues to embrace new technologies as times goes by. New technologies however certainly come with so many good but bad components. Just as new software provokes malicious minds to come up with a virus to affect the new software, so is the case when it comes to tech-innovations. Every innovation provokes its own ‘enemy’. Let us not focus on the bad side however, let’s look at the positive one.
 
Of all the innovative creations by the bank, the ATM (Automated Teller Machine) I say stands out. It has saved us from ‘long distance’ queuing which in a way I think largely discourages people from banking their money. That tells you why the new mobile banking is easily becoming a favorite for many.
 
An ATM is a banking platform that allows you to withdraw or deposit money let alone knowing your account status. In the past, there’s not much you’d have done with the machines, most activity was to be done over the counter. The functions of these money machines however continue to increase as time goes by.
 
Who would have thought a time would come when you would be able to chat with a bank teller face to face over the ATM machine? Interesting right? Well, this has been made possible.
 
Bank tellers can now serve their clients from ATM booths thanks to the new video technology that can be installed in the machines. With installed video monitors, banks can now serve their clients better and more interactively. This I say is another way of enhancing customer satisfaction.
 
Bank customers can speak to a teller if they need to carry out advanced transactions like cashing a check or making a withdrawal in specific denominations. In addition, customers can withdraw money from their account if they left home without their ATM card or simply lost it.
 
In places where this technology is in use already, the customer places their driver’s license on a scanner attached to the ATM. After verification of the customer’s identity though video chat, they can use the ATM as if they had their bank card.

With the adoption of the new technology, its argued that theft cases are bound to reduce. Any potential theft of money, either during a robbery or by bank employees, is simply eliminated unless someone physically attempts to open the machine.
 
In Kenya, this kind of technology would come in handy especially in these times when ATM theft cases have become rampant. Though banks have adopted the new electronic chip in a move to curb this, this technology should also be considered. I say it’s also time we bid the queues at the banking halls good bye don’t you think?