Daily Tech News

A devastating magnitude-7.8 earthquake rocked Nepal. It was so powerful that tremors were felt in north and east India. Near the quake epicentre, two similar disasters were recorded in the recent times. In 1988, a magnitude-6.9 earthquake claimed more than 1500 lives. The 1934 quake, 8 on Richter scale, was worse. More than 10,600 people lost their lives. Why do earthquakes hit the Himalayan area so often? Well, nature is unpredictable. It is still impossible to predict such adversities. However, science can answer a few basic questions. To find out the cause of earthquakes in the Himalayan region, we first need to understand our planet. The outermost shell of the Earth is made of multiple  tectonic plates . These plates have been  reported to move about 10 cm a year . Too slow for us humans, but quite swift in a planet's life. Image Source: johomaps.com Oftentimes, these plate movements drive landmasses to collide. This can cause incredible amount of pressure. One such e

Did you ever wonder what happened to that old TV you threw away? Like most other gadgets that are unsafely disposed of, it’s probably occupying a distant landfill somewhere in China or Africa, or perhaps even a dumping ground closer to home. Most of the gadgets that people throw out include lots of toxic chemicals -like lead, mercury and cadmium- which can be very harmful to us and out environment. At the rate the world produces e-waste (about 50 million tons each year), it’s important that we all try to dispose of our old gadgets responsibly. Disposing Gadgets: Important Data Safety Considerations Before you dispose of certain gadgets, like old computers and cellphones, you should wipe away all your personal data first. Just deleting the data from your recycle bin isn’t enough (the only removes the reference to the data, not the data itself). You should use software like  Eraser  that rewrites over your old data several times to make sure no one can access it again. If at all po

Small electric two-seater pods will take to public roads – but must be fitted with a removable steering wheel and pedals, and limited to 25mph. Google’s prototype self-driving car pods will take to public roads for the first time around its headquarters in Mountain View, California this summer. The pods, which resemble a Smart Car crossed with a Nissan Micra, will be fitted with a removable steering wheel, brake and accelerator pedals, and will require a human “safety driver” at all times. The new electric car prototypes are built from the ground up as autonomous vehicles making them different to Google’s fleet of modified self-driving Lexus sports utility vehicles, which have been driving around 10,000 miles of public roads a week. The two-seater pods will run the same software as the modified Lexus cars, however, and will be capped to a top speed of 25mph. They were originally shown and have been tested on private roads without a steering wheel and typical car controls, i