Daily Tech News

Highway barriers could deliver more than just noise protection if a test currently underway in the Netherlands proves successful. The colorful roadside barriers incorporate luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs) which transfer light to conventional solar panels at the side in order to generate energy. The technology developed by Michael Debije at the Eindhoven University of Technology is being tested along the A2 highway in the Netherlands. Over the course of a year, the barriers will be tested for their effectiveness in power-generation as well as vandal-resistance and maintenance requirements. "Thanks to their many colors the LSC are visually very attractive, which makes them ideal for use in many different situations in the built environment," explains Debije. "Further benefits are that the principle used is low cost, they can be produced in any desired, regular color, is robust, and the LSCs will even work when the sky is cloudy. That means it offers tremendo...

A Welsh university claims to have built the UK’s first smart low-carbon energy-positive house. The Solcer House was built by Swansea University’s SPECIFIC project in partnership with Cardiff University. It was designed as a prototype with off-the-shelf technologies to show how low-carbon targets could be met. The house, located in Pyle near Bridgend, is part of the Wales Low Carbon Research Institute’s (LCRI)  SOLCER project . It follows the "Buildings as Power Stations" concept developed by the SPECIFIC Innovation and Knowledge Centre. Energy-positive status is achieved by way of reduced energy demand, renewable energy supply and storing energy for later use. Electricity is also imported from the grid when required and exported to the grid when there is a surplus. Low-carbon cement was used for the construction of the Solcer House. To reduce its demand for energy, the house has high levels of thermal insulation, structural insulated panels (SIPS), external insulati...

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. ...

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 ...

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...

Yu Yureka is an attractive dual-SIM Android smartphone based on the customizable Cyanogen 11 OS. The device comes with LTE bands for faster connectivity, 13-megapixel back shooter to capture vivid images and an octa-core Snapdragon processor for effortless multitasking.The smartphone features a 5.5-inch HD capacitive touchscreen having (1280x720 pixels) screen resolution which results in a pixel density of 267 PPI. The device has a bright display and hosts great viewing angles. Further, the screen also has a coating of Corning’s Gorilla Glass 3 to protect it from scratches. The device runs Android 4.4 KitKat out of the box based on the customizable Cyanogen 11 OS. At its heart, the device has a 1.5GHz octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 processor with Adreno 405 GPU and 2GB DDR3 RAM. The device also has an internal storage capacity of 16GB which can further be expanded up to 32 GB via microSD card slot present on the device. The Yu Yureka boasts a 13-megapixel autofocus rear camera w...