A new robot can read your emotions

Pepper is the first robot who knows what mood you're in, and can change his behaviour accordingly.

Image: Softbank

The robot, developed by Japanese company Softbank, uses sensors to read your mood, and will be released next year for under US$2,000.
Pepper was introduced to the world last week, and marks a historic moment in robot design.
The 1.2m, 28kg humanoid robot gets feedback about our moods via facial-recognition technology, cameras, audio records and sensors in its head, CNN reports.
And instead of being programmed, Pepper learns how to behave over time to make you happy. Their feedback is also uploaded to cloud storage so other units can modify their behaviour accordingly.
The rolling robot can also speak in 17 languages.
The inventors imagine Pepper will be useful as a household robot, but there's no word on whether it'll be for sale outside Japan as yet.

Intel unveils Devil’s Canyon, its first 4GHz CPU, plus a 20th-anniversary Pentium processor

Intel’s fifth-generation Core processor family—code-named Broadwell—might be late, but the company has cooked up a couple of brand-new Haswell-class desktop CPUs that PC enthusiasts are sure to dig. Code-named Devil’s Canyon, Intel unveiled the all-new Core i7-4790K and Core i5-4690K processors at Computex on Tuesday (Taiwan time). Intel is also marking the
20th anniversary of its Pentium processor by introducing the all-new Pentium G3258.

The Core i7-4790K is notable for its ability to run all four of its cores at a base clock frequency of 4.0GHz. Other Intel CPUs have been able to reach this frequency on one or several cores for brief periods (a burst mode Intel identifies as “Turbo Frequency”), but this new part will run that fast consistently and boast a turbo frequency up to 4.4GHz.

The new Core i5-4690K, meanwhile, will operate at a base clock speed of 3.5GHz with a turbo frequency up to 3.9GHz. Both new CPUs have unlocked clock multipliers, which will enable the end user to push these chips' operating frequencies even higher.

                   The Core i7-4790K is the first Intel CPU to run all four of its cores at 4.0GHz consistently. 


In an embargoed briefing last week, Intel VP Lisa Graff said Devil’s Canyon was developed on a very fast track, starting in December, 2013. “We gave our engineering team a target,” Graff said, “we wanted a part that could run at 4GHz on all four cores. But we also put a lot of restrictions on them: ‘You can’t change the cooling solution, you can’t change the socket, and it has to work with our existing chipsets.’”

Works with existing motherboards

That means the new parts will plug into existing motherboards with LGA 1150 sockets and either Intel’s Z87 or 9-series chipsets. Graff said that motherboard manufacturers will need to tweak their Z87 boards to accommodate the new CPUs, in part because the chips' TDP (thermal design profile) has edged up from 84 to 88 watts.
Intel’s engineers “hit the two things you need to address to crank up the frequency,” Graff said, “You need to make some packaging changes, so they added a huge number of capacitors to deliver smooth power. And they produced a new thermal solution that works with existing cooling solutions.”

           Intel's Devil's Canyon logo.

The new thermal solution Graff spoke of is known by its very long acronym: NGPTIM (Next-Generation Polymer Thermal Interface Material). It’s essentially grease that the factory applies to the heat spreader housing the processor.
When a heatsink and fan (in an air-cooled system) or a water block (in a liquid-cooling system) is clamped to the CPU, the grease spreads over the top of the chip's heat spreader and helps transfer heat from the chip package to the heatsink or water block so it can be dissipated.
Consumers will be able to buy the new CPUs with or without Intel’s own heatsink and fan, but I predict most DIYers will favor third-party cooling solutions from the likes of Corsair, Zalman, NZXT, and others. While both Devil’s Canyon parts are quad-core CPUs, the Core i7 variant supports eight execution threads, where the Core i5 model supports only four. By the same token, the Core i7-4790K will have 8MB of cache, where the Core i5-4690K has 6MB. But both processors will have the same integrated graphics processor—an Intel HD 4600—and both will be capable of addressing DDR3/1600 memory over two channels. Intel expects the new Core i7 part to sell for $339 and the Core i5 for $242 (that’s for quantities of 1000 without a heatsink and fan).

Intel is introducing a new unlocked Pentium processor: The Pentium 3258.

The Pentium reinvented

Graff also unveiled an unlocked Pentium processor, the Pentium G3258. It will operate at a base frequency of 3.2GHz, but like the Devil’s Canyon parts, it will have an unlocked multiplier to attract PC enthusiasts. This dual-core part will have integrated Intel HD Graphics and be capable of addressing DDR3/1333 memory over two channels. It will be compatible with Socket 1150 motherboards with Intel 8- or 9-series chipsets, and it will have a TDP of 53 watts. Intel expects it to cost $72 (in quantities of 1000, without a heatsink or fan).
This isn't the first time Intel has revealed information about Devil's Canyon and the new Pentium processor. Graff discussed both parts at a press briefing related to the 2014 Game Developers' Conference in March.

HP’s new technology rethinks computer architecture

The Machine is six times more powerful than existing computational devices.

HP has unveiled a new machine that has the potential to revolutionise computing and cope with the massive amounts of data generated by mobile devices and the Internet of things (a network composed of household appliances, cars, vending machines and many other devices).

The Machine is designed to cope with tonnes of information by using clusters of special-purpose cores that are more efficient than generalised cores. It is wired with photonics instead of copper wires, meaning it consumes 80 times less energy and is much faster. According to HP, it can handle 160 petabytes of data in 250 nanoseconds.

The Machine is six times more powerful than existing servers. However, the first models powered by this technology won’t be commercially available until 2018.

National Engineering Robotics Competition(NERC) 2014

 

Event Details

• Start Date Friday 20th June 2014
• End Date Monday 23rd June 2014
• Start Time 10:00 AM
• End Time 8:00 PM
• Website http://www.nerc.com.pk/

 

• Venue College of Electrical & Mechanical Engineering, Rawalpindi, Pakistan
• Address

  College of Electrical & Mechanical Engineering, Peshawar Road, near Daewoo Terminal, Rawalpindi, Pakistan
• City Islamabad
• Contact 0519278050
   
  NERC (National Engineering Robotics Competition), an annual competition conducted by the Mechatronics Department at the College of E&ME;, NUST.
  
  NERC (National Engineering Robotics Competition) is a hands-on, learn-by-doing engineering contest, in which participants design and build a robot that will play in a competition at the end of June 2014. The goal for the students is to design a machine that will be able to navigate its way around the playing surface with the robots being totally autonomous, so once a round begins, there is no human intervention!
  
  Though there are no formal prerequisites for NERC, we’ve found that students can learn everything they need to know by working with each other, and mostly, by hacking on their robots.
  For more info,
  Visit our facebook page:
  https://www.facebook.com/nerc.eme
  Visit our website:
  http://www.nerc.com.pk/
   

Specification of PM Youth Laptops to be Distributed Among 100,000 students

Laptops to be distributed among 100,000 Talented students will have the following specifications:

Model: Haier 7G – 5H 4005
Inter Core i3 1.7 GHz
[Basic Parameters ]
Category Notebook
Time to market in December 2013
Product Type Home
The thin portable product positioning , Ultrabook notebook
Operating system pre-installed Windows 8
[ Processor ]
CPU series Intel Core i3 4 -generation family
CPU Type Intel Core i3 4005 U
CPU clocked at 1700.000(1.7GHz)
Core frequency 2000.000
3MB cache
Motherboard chipset Intel QM87
[Storage Device ]
Memory capacity 4GB (4GB RAM)
Memory type DDR3 1333MHz
Hard disk capacity 500GB
Hard to describe 5400
No built-in CD-ROM drive type
[ Display ]
Screen size 14.000
Screen resolution 1366×768
[ Graphics ]
Two graphics card type ( performance -level graphics card + integrated graphics )
Graphics chip NVIDIA GeForce GT 740M + Intel GMA HD 4400
Memory Type DDR3
Memory capacity 2GB
128bit memory interface
[ Audio ]
Built-in audio chip audio system
Speaker Built-in speaker
[ Camera / network communications ]
Camera 720p HD webcam
Wireless LAN 802.11b/g/n wireless protocol
[ Interface ]
3 × USB2.0 data interface
Video Interface VGA, HDMI
Reader -in-1 card reader
Audio interface headphone output interface
[ Input Device ]
Touchpad pointing device
Chocolate Keyboard Keyboard description
[ Power Description ]
Battery Type 4-cell lithium battery
Life specific time depending on use environment
[Appearance]
Notebook Weight 2100
Shell material magnesium alloy
Description Hyun brushed steel casing
[ Warranty Information ]
Warranty Policy Genius, enjoy Warranty Services
Warranty time 1 year

25 Super Cool Gadgets You Should Have Before You Die

http://wonderfulengineering.com/25-super-cool-gadgets-you-should-have-before-you-die/

FIFA fever: Pakistani fans flock to Brazil to witness biggest sporting carnival

ISLAMABAD: Around 500 excited Pakistani fans are travelling to Brazil to witness the biggest sporting carnival- the 2014 FIFA Football World Cup, Brazilian Ambassador in Pakistan Alfredo Leoni said on Thursday.
“We have issued visas to around 200 people from Pakistan, while the rest of Pakistanis are travelling to our country from other parts of the world,” Leoni told Rawalpindi Islamabad Sports Journalists Association (RISJA) here at Brazilian Embassy.
A RISJA delegation led by its chairperson, Syed Ehteshamul Haq and President Nasir Raja called on Brazilian Ambassador and presented him a souvenir in connection with FIFA World Cup that rolls into action in Brazil on Thursday.
Leoni praised Pakistan for supplying the balls for the World Cup and added that he was optimistic that the friendship and economic ties between the two countries would bolster in the years to come.
He said football is the world’s most popular sport and the fact that FIFA chose Pakistan to manufacture footballs for the World Cup tournament is not only an honour for Pakistan but also for him.
“Though Pakistan is 164th ranked soccer team, it has left all others behind in production of quality balls. I feel proud to be Ambassador in a country whose 100 percent balls would be used in the FIFA World Cup,” he added.
Pakistan produces around 70 percent of the total number of hand-made soccer balls in the world. Around the time of the World Cup the production jumps to more than 60 million balls. Sialkot is the hub of the country’s football manufacturing industry.
Apart from producing footballs, cricket bats, and badminton rackets for domestic consumption, this small town also exports to the rest of the world.
Syed Ehtesham and Nasir Raja said that Brazil is amongst the top favorites in the 32-nation event and expressed their good wishes for Brazilian team and the nation. Brazil has come a long way since 2010 with a young squad eager to dominate in the international arena.